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BAUAW NEWSLETTER Subscribe/Unsubscribe
Monday, March 06, 2006
BAUAW NEWSLETTER-THURSDAY, MARCH 16, 2006
US launches major assault in Iraq By Qassim Abdul-Zahra, AP Published: 16 March 2006 US forces and the Iraqi army today launched what was termed the largest air assault since the US-led invasion, targeting insurgent strongholds north of the capital. http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article351700.ece ALL OUT SATURDAY, MARCH 18, 11:00 A.M., CIVIC CENTER, S.F. STOP THE WAR! BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW END COLONIAL OCCUPATION FROM IRAQ TO PALESTINE TO HAITI... U.S. OUT OF THE MIDDLE EAST! FROM IRAQ TO NEW ORLEANS, FUND PEOPLE'S NEEDS, NOT THE WAR MACHINE! VOLUNTEER NOW: 415-821-6545 Endorse March 18 Global Day of Action Volunteer Now! To get involved, call 415-821-6545 or email answer@actionsf.org [If you would like to volunteer Saturday, show up at the Civic Center at 9:00 A.M. and go to the ANSWER table for an assignment.] ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- Dear Friends, The Justice in Palestine Coalition wishes to invite our brothers and sisters in the Bay Area to participate in a contingent on March 18, 2006, Commemorating the Third Anniversary of the Occupation of Iraq We will be Marching beneath the banner: Stop Racism Against Arabs and Muslims! Justice and Freedom for the people of Palestine, Iraq, and the Middle East and South Asia. The Justice in Palestine coalition sees the urgent need to address the question of the rising anti-Arab and anti-Islamic racism that has recently been dramatically exposed by media coverage of current events (the cartoon affair, the Dubai ports deal, the uproar over the Hamas elections, the recent talk of "threat of civil war in Iraq", increasing military threats against Iran, etc.) A recent Washington Post-ABC News poll revealed that the percentage of Americans who have a negative view of Islam has risen substantially to the extent that it is higher now than it was in the months after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Sadly, there is also evidence that a lack of clarity on this issue can have a disorienting effect on the broader anti-war movement and those we hope to reach as our allies. We think it is our responsibility to march in the upcoming March 18th demonstrations commemorating the third anniversary of the occupation of Iraq, clearly carrying signs that address the question of incitement against Arabs and Muslims. Our contingent will be meeting at 11am at the Civic Center near the entrance to the parking garage on McAlester Street. We hope you and your friends and families will join us there. Together we can take a stand against racism, and help stop the war. If you have any questions, concerns, or ideas, please feel free to contact us. All the best to you as we look forward to hearing from you, The Justice In Palestine Coalition ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- Not in Our Name Bay Area - Special Event Sunday, March 19 at Noon Direct from Iraq, independent journalist Urban Hamid Not in Our Name office (map) 3945 Opal Street, Oakland Please RSVP as space is limited. Refreshments will be served. Donation requested. www.notinourname.net phone: 510-601-8000 email: bayarea@notinourname.net local: bayarea.notinourname.net ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- Monday , March 20 4 p.m. Military recruitment office Stonestown Mall, San Francisco) (across from Macy's at old Kinko's location) Monday, March 20 will mark the THIRD YEAR of the war in Iraq. With the majority of the country now against the war and the death toll of US soldiers in Iraq over 2,300, we call upon the military to cease and desist its aggressive tactics and not to recruit ONE MORE OF OUR YOUTH to suffer in this illegal and immoral war! The vast majority of San Franciscans say "Troops Out Now!" and many feel that the conflict in Iraq is only made worse by the US presence there. We will converge on the Marine Recruitment Center Monday at 4:00 PM, joining with high school students in the area, college antiwar groups in the Campus Antiwar Network, and antiwar activists throughout the Bay Area. We will call upon the military not to recruit one more youth to war, and to leave our community! Bring your signs, your noisemakers, and your love for peace! Campus Antiwar Network is a grassroots collaboration of student antiwar groups throughout the US. For more info please visit www.campusantiwar.net. ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- DANGER: MILITARY “OPT OUT” FORMS SIGNED BY 95% OF S.F. PARENTS COULD BE MADE NULL AND VOID BY THE SFUSD! “EQUAL ACCESS” FOR MILITARY RECRUITERS WILL BE RECOMMENDED FOR APPROVAL ON: TUESDAY, MARCH 28, 7:00 P.M. Irving G. Breyer Board Meeting Room 555 Franklin Street, First Floor San Francisco, CA 94102 In spite of a two-billion-dollar military recruitment advertising budget outside of the schools, the "Equal Access for Recruiters" Board of Education Policy (62-14Sp1) will allow two recruiters each from the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and National Guard into schools to recruit children each time colleges or employers bring notice of scholarship, job or career opportunities to the students at their schools! SAN FRANCISCO VOTERS VOTED TO BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW IN 2005! WE VOTED TO GET THE MILITARY OUT OF OUR SCHOOLS IN 2006! AND PARENTS HAVE MADE THEIR POSITION CLEAR! THEY HAVE “OPTED OUT” OF MILITARY RECRUITMENT BY A 95 PERCENT MAJORITY! We urge you to get on the speakers list for the Board meeting and come and register your outrage! Add your name to the speakers list for the Tuesday, March 28th meeting by calling: 415-241-6427 Monday between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., or Tuesday, between 8:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. BAUAW COUNTER-PROPOSAL FOR ACTION BY THE BOARD OF EDUCATION: Let it be district policy that, as long as this war is being carried out against the will of the Iraqi people and, against the will of the American people; and as long as the "No Child Left Behind Act" is still in effect, the military will be given a stall in the dirtiest bathroom or basement closet on school or campus when they insist on coming! And huge warning signs will be posted at the door and around school and given to each student stating: The material and information you receive from the military is full of lies and false promises designed to get you to sign up to risk your life in an unlawful, and unjust war. While, under the current "No Child Left Behind Act," the school can't legally prevent the military from coming on school grounds without losing funding that will keep the school open, we can and will warn all students of the deceitful and unlawful attempts by the military to get students to sign up. STUDENTS BEWARE! DON'T BELIEVE A WORD THE MILITARY SAYS! DON'T RELY ON THEIR CONTRACT WITH YOU! AS SOON AS YOU JOIN, IT BECOMES NULL AND VOID AND YOU BELONG TO THEM! YOUR LIFE WILL NO LONGER BE YOUR OWN! TURN AWAY FROM MILITARY RECRUITMENT AND DON'T JOIN THE MILITARY! GO TO THE COUNSELING OFFICE FOR INFORMATION ON COLLEGE AND JOB TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES NOT CONNECTED TO THE MILITARY! GO TO COLLEGE OR JOB TRAINING NOT INTO COMBAT! Note: There is nothing unlawful against protesting the presence of the military in our schools. Further, the San Francisco Board of Education will make it its urgent business to organize against the "No Child Left Behind Act" on a national level by contacting school districts around the country to protest this act of holding our children and their schools hostage for military recruitment purposes. All parents and the community will be notified well in advance of when and where the military will show up next so that they can choose to keep their children home on that day or to organize and/or participate in a protest of the presence of the military since they are clearly not wanted in this district. www.bauaw.org 415-824-8730 ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- Troops Out Now Coalition Statement on Withdrawal from Iraq On the 3rd Anniversary of the war, let's make our message clear: A Call to Unite Around the Demand for an: Immediate Complete Unconditional Withdrawal of All Occupying Forces from Iraq The best way that the antiwar movement can mark the third anniversary of the criminal war and occupation of Iraq is to unite around the demand for an immediate, unconditional and complete withdrawal of all occupying troops from Iraq. Immediate - not in 10 years or in six months--as soon as it takes to put soldiers on planes and bring them home. Not waiting for the "Iraqi" army to be trained or for the establishment of a government subject to U.S. control, or for any other reasons that really only amount to one thing: an excuse to justify and extend the occupation. Complete - not in phases, not with bases left behind, not redeployment across the border, but a complete removal of all occupying forces from all Iraqi territory. Unconditional - The Iraqi people have an absolute right to govern themselves today, without any conditions imposed on them by Bush and Halliburton. The principal argument advanced against the immediate and complete withdrawal of all occupation troops is that the occupation must continue until Iraq is stabilized in order to establish democracy and prevent a civil war. The basic premise underlying this argument is the racist assumption that the people of Iraq are somehow inherently incapable of governing themselves, and require the paternal tutelage of the U.S. We believe that the Iraqi people have the ability and the absolute right to govern themselves, without the presence of any occupying forces. However, stabilizing Iraq was never an objective of the invasion. Ted Koppel's op-ed in the Feb.24 New York Times made this clear. Koppel explained that oil has been the driving force of U.S. policy in the Middle East for "more than a half-century," and was the motive for the CIA overthrow of Mohammed Mossadegh 53 years ago. He concluded, “The reason for America’s rapt attention to the security of the Persian Gulf is what is has always been. It’s about the oil.” U.S. troops are in Iraq to subjugate the people in order to ensure U.S. control of the Iraqi people's oil reserves. If the troops are there tomorrow, they will be there for the same reason. If they are there in six months or ten years, this will still be their goal. Stability and democracy has never been and will never be the goal of this brutal occupation. If an armed gang invaded your home, destroyed much of the furnishings and tortured and killed members of your family--the idea of asking them to hang around with their guns to help fix up the place would be absurd. You would want them out immediately--not on a timetable, not when they decided that they had trained you in how to put your house in order, not when they had finished robbing you-- but immediately. We've all seen the photos of what the invasion and occupation have done -- the devastation wrought by U.S. bombers, the torture and abuse at U.S. prison camps. The U.S. announced on March 9 that it would soon be opening a new prison at Camp Cropper to take over the work of the torture chambers at Abu Ghraib. This new prison camp will join some 38 U.S. Donate to help mobilize for March 18 & 19 military-run detention centers where Iraqi people are routinely abused and held in conditions clearly violating international law. There is no justification for these crimes to continue one more day. Moreover, the U.S.-led occupation is not preventing civil war, it is fomenting it. The violence plaguing Iraq today is the direct result of the occupation. There are some strategists in the Pentagon and the CIA that even look at civil war as an opportunity to carve up the country, based on a divide-and-rule strategy. As Gen. William E. Odom, former head of the National Security Agency, said, "We created the civil war when we invaded; we can't prevent a civil war by staying." Those concerned about the violence in Iraq should demand that the occupying forces, who are the cause of that violence, leave today. The problem with “phased withdrawal” and relying on politicians for answers It is critical that the antiwar movement steer clear of taking any position that condones the continuation of the criminal invasion and occupation of Iraq for even another hour. One reason why antiwar activism is not as consistent and militant as it should be, despite the overwhelming opposition to the war, is that it has not rallied around a clear and principled position independent of the politics of the two major parties. Instead, many are inclined towards a strategy of tying the antiwar movement to the small number of politicians who offer some mild criticism of the war, in the hopes that this will make the movement broader and more credible. The problem with this strategy is that with a few rare exceptions, the antiwar positions of the most outspoken elected officials have at best been inconsistent and weak. Despite overwhelming public opposition to the war, no one in leadership of either the Democratic or Republican Parties questions the legitimacy of the war or offers any real opposition. Instead, they are trying to repackage their war plans as an antiwar position, under the cover of "phased withdrawal" or "redeployment." The antiwar movement gains nothing whatsoever, and has much to lose, by cooperating with this deception. A phased withdrawal may sound like a realistic solution, but is dangerous because drawing down or redeploying 5,000 or 30,000 troops is calculated to take the steam out of the opposition to the war and the antiwar movement. A phased withdrawal plan would give the Bush regime the opportunity to prolong the occupation, including plenty of time to finish implementation of permanent military outposts the Pentagon is planning to leave in place throughout the Middle East and surrounding regions. Phased withdrawal is just the Bush plan dressed up in antiwar clothing--the Bush Administration always planned to withdraw some troops, as soon as the conquest of Iraq was complete, permanent U.S. bases were built, and the oil revenues were under U.S. control. Many who oppose the war have gravitated to Rep. Murtha's criticism of President Bush's handing of the war. But Murtha, who fervently championed the invasion of Iraq from the beginning, is not calling for an end to the war. What he is calling for is "redeployment," which is another cover for continuing the war with different tactics. His proposal doesn’t call for the troops to come home. It calls for a partial, phased withdrawal, with troops being redeployed to Kuwait, ready to intervene in Iraq or elsewhere in the region. Marines and Special Forces would remain in Iraq, supported by U.S. bombers and gunships. Under his plan, U.S. bases would remain in Iraq, and U.S. corporations would continue to control the Iraqi economy under the guise of reconstruction. This is not a plan to end the war; it is an attempt to market the continuation of the occupation to an antiwar crowd. The antiwar movement doesn't need to seek legitimacy anywhere, especially not from politicians who supported and helped plan the illegitimate and criminal war. While there’s nothing wrong with getting politicians to speak at the big antiwar rallies, we cannot look to them or depend on them for leadership. When we do, our movement is pulled in a direction that weakens us, sacrifices our independence, and demobilizes us. Political positions have a direct bearing on how a movement struggles, or even if it engages in struggle at all. Adapting to a soft position, like phased withdrawal or redeployment, gives people the message that there's no need to mobiize on the streets to bring the troops home now--just wait for the politicians to work out the details of the withdrawal. If the movement were united around the demand for an immediate, complete, unconditional withdrawal, this would elevate, intensify, and clarify the struggle against the war. In the early days of the occupation, some called for the Pentagon to hand authority over the occupation to the United Nations. It’s likely that this position will be taken up again by some, as part of a phased withdrawal plan. We should be wary of the UN solution. As much as we wish that it were otherwise, more often than not the UN does not act in the interest of the people of the world, but in the interests of the U.S. government, the governments of the major European countries, and the corporate interests that those governments represent. In Haiti, as in so many other instances, the UN has merely provided a cover for what is in essence a U.S. occupation, and has engaged in gross human rights violations. It was the UN, on behalf of Wall Street and Washington, that sanctioned the first Gulf War and the genocidal sanctions against Iraq that killed between 1.5 and two million people. The people of Iraq are not likely to accept another foreign occupation whose only distinction from the present one is superficial. Ultimately, it’s up to the people of Iraq to determine what role if any the UN or any other force should play in rebuilding their country. As opposition to the war continues to grow, and the bipartisan lies about Iraq are exposed to the whole world, the antiwar movement has a tremendous opportunity. But to seize this opportunity, it needs a clear, independent message. We need to unify around the demand for an immediate, unconditional and complete withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Iraq. What you can do to help build March 18: - Endorse Add your name to the growing list of hundreds of endorsers who say "Troops Out Now! - Donate us with the massive costs of mobilizing coast to coast -- sound and stage, printing tens of thousands of leaflets, organizing buses, and much move. - List Your Local Activity ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- DEFEND FREE SPEECH! ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- ATTACK ON FREE SPEECH AT PACE UNIVERSITY BACKGROUND INFO: Dear Friends: Yesterday we (Brian Kelly and Lauren Giaccone) were threatened with disciplinary actions ranging from warnings to expulsion: all for holding a peaceful rally, handing out educational flyers about Bill Clinton’s war crimes, and holding regular CAN/SDS meetings at our school. Yesterday, the Pace University Dean of Students disrupted our regular joint Campus Antiwar Network (C.A.N.) and Students for a Democratic Society (S.D.S.) meeting citing a university policy against "unrecognized student organizations" reserving or using university space. This occurred after an event we held on Sunday where I (Brian Kelly) called Bill Clinton a "war criminal" with my friend and fellow anti-war activist Lauren Giaccone, citing his atrocities around the world during his presidency. We were not charged with any violation; however, we were detained and threatened by both Secret Service agents and various police officers. For more information about what happened at the event, including the threats made to us and the illegal searches that occurred please visit the following link: http://leftist.ws/2006/03/08/why-i-called-bill-clinton-a-war-criminal/ When I got back to my dorm I found: An envelope from my university on the ground near my front door. Inside the envelope was a letter from Pace stating that they are pursuing disciplinary actions against me for the following: 1. Failure to register a rally 2. Violation of distribution and solicitation policy 3. Reservation of university space by an unrecognized organization These charges are an attempt to stop us from voicing our opinions and exercising our constitutional rights to free speech, press, and assembly. Pace’s message to students and the community is clear: We do not recognize constitutional rights. Any of these charges can carry penalties ranging from verbal warnings to expulsion. We believe the only chance to challenge these charges is to make sure that Pace knows that the world is watching them. We are challenging President Caputo and the University not only on this instance, but also on their attack on civil liberties around the university, their enforced apolitical atmosphere, their union-busting activities, and the presence of Homeland Security agents on campus. Thanks for your support! Brian Kelly President, Pace Campus Antiwar Network kelly@leftist.ws FOR ONGOING UPDATES: http://www.campusantiwar.net/ SAMPLE LETTER: To: Pace University Dear David Caputo, President of Pace University: president@pace.edu campus “hotline” 1-866-PAC-E001 We are outraged that your school is charging two students, Brian Kelly and Lauren Giaccone, with potential expulsion from school for engaging in a peaceful protest. In the interest of free speech, we demand that you drop ALL charges against Brian and Lauren, and that your administration cease any harassment of the Pace University Campus Antiwar Network, Students for a Democratic Society, and any other activist organizations. Sincerely, the undersigned To add your name go to: http://www.traprockpeace.org/pace_repression/ OPEN LETTER TO: David A. Caputo President Pace University president@pace.edu campus “hotline” 1-866-PAC-E001 Dear President Caputo, The news of the persecution of Brian Kelly and Lauren Giaccone for holding an antiwar meeting on the campus is extremely distressing. The purpose for campus rules that require pre- registration of groups and meetings is to prevent violence or other illegal activities from taking place on the campus not to prevent the peaceful exercise of free speech and assembly. The real perpetrators of illegalities and violence--the U.S. Military--are the ones that should be banned from campus and brought up on charges for disseminating lies about military service such as assuring enlistees that they do not have to fight but can have careers in such fields as "electric guitar player" or "doctor" instead--which is a blatant lie and act of overt and covert deception. Are these promises designed to honestly recruit the "best of the best?" NO! These recruitment techniques are designed to recruit the most economically desperate and naive of students. The recent Supreme Court ruling upholding "equal access" to students in colleges and High Schools for the military is just a way to circumvent the "opt-out" forms that both parents and students have signed to keep the military away--to keep the lies away. The function of any school is to promote the lives and future of our kids not to promote their road to death and possibly severe injury that could end any chance of a decent future for them. The military doesn't need your help! They have a two billion dollar budget this year alone for recruitment advertising with McCann/Erickson, a major advertising agency. And they are actively spreading these lies about one's "choices" in military service. But, once you take your second oath you become military property to do with as they please and all of your rights are suspended and all of the promises that the military gave-- even contracts that they sign with enlistees--are made null and void by taking that second oath. Already, over a third of returning veterans are seeking psychological assistance from public health facilities and are suffering from depression and post traumatic stress syndrome because the cause for what they signed up for turned out to be a bunch of lies. Instead they have experienced an entire population--the people of Iraq--expressing their overwhelming desire for the U.S. Troops to get out of their country. They are not welcomed by the people of Iraq with open arms as the enlistees were told. And, most importantly, the Iraqi people's hatred for the U.S. Intervention into their country is completely justified! The analogy of murderous people entering your home, killing family members, destroying your home, torturing and imprisoning children and grandparents, stealing or destroying all that you own and then expecting that those very same people be asked to undo what they have done is insane! This war is dead, dead, dead wrong! These students should be hailed as heroes! And, our institutions of higher learning as well as our public school system should be actively fighting to get the military out of the schools. They should be universally demanding that schools be off-limits to these military organizations who are carrying out mass murder and turning innocent kids who just want a good life for themselves and their families into murderers too! The schools and universities--teachers and professors AND ADMINISTRATORS--should be actively fighting against such laws as "No Child Left Behind" that holds our children's education and funding of the schools as ransom to the military--a law that ties school funding to open hunting season of our kids year-round to military ghouls! The constitution expressly states that people have the right to peacefully protest and demonstrate their opposition to government policy. No rules can be designed to circumvent the constitution-- even on college campuses! As long as this war is being carried out against the will of the Iraqi people and, against the will of the American people; and as long as the "no child left behind" law is still in effect, the military should be given a stall in the dirtiest bathroom on campus as their headquarters! And huge warning signs should be posted at the door stating: "The material and information you receive from the military is full of lies and false promises designed to get you to sign up to risk your life in an unlawful, and unjust war. While the university/school can't legally prevent the military from coming on campus without losing funding that will keep the school open, we can warn our students of their deceitful and unlawful attempts to get them to sign up. STUDENTS BEWARE AND TURN AWAY FROM THIS MILITARY RECRUITMENT TOILET AND DON'T JOIN THE MILITARY." The administration COULD do this and not be in defiance with "no child left behind." It us the only thing a school with a conscience can do. The whole world is watching what your school does in this circumstance. We demand that you drop all charges against the students and their lawful, peaceful organizations and carry out the will of the majority of Americans and protest the hunting of more cannon fodder for this murderous war in our places of learning. Be creative! Use all the means at your disposal to fight this unconstitutional requirement to keep the military on our school campuses--including the Reserve and Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps. Let them train in a toilet as well! Schools should be a safe haven not a hunting grounds for death and destruction! This message will be circulated far and wide! Sincerely, Bonnie Weinstein, Bay Area United Against War www.bauaw.org ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- OPEN LETTER TO: Dr. Monte Moses, Superintendent Cherry Creek Schools RE: Teach vs. speech How should public schools handle hot controversy in class? A teacher's Comments on Bush stoke an ever-simmering debate By Karen Rouse and Robert Sanchez Denver Post Staff Writers DenverPost.com Article Launched: 3/03/2006 01:00 AM http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_3564246 and: Right-Wing Attack Dogs Go after a Colorado High School Teacher by Michael D. Yates March 3, 2006 http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/yates030306.html And some of the "criminal" comments made by Jay Bennish: "Among other things, Mr. Bennish asked his class which country has the most weapons of mass destruction and answered the United States. He suggested that capitalism was inimical to human rights and that the U.S. wants to create by military force if necessary a world in its own image. He suggested that there were chilling similarities between Bush's words and those of Hitler. Right on the mark if you ask me! Meanwhile, the moronic Gunny Bob said that Bennish criticized capitalism but was a capitalist himself (because he gets paid a wage?). Finally, on March 3, the Denver Post noted that, near the end of the recording, Mr. Bennish told his students, "You have to figure this stuff out for yourselves. . . . I'm not in any way implying that you should agree with me. . . . What I'm trying to get you to do is think about these issues more in depth and not just to take things from the surface." And, "I'm glad you [those students who challenged him] asked all of your questions because they're all very good, legitimate questions." Sounds like a real brain washer to me!" Dr. Monte Moses, Superintendent Cherry Creek Schools Phone: 720-554-4213 Email: 4700 South Yosemite Street Greenwood Village, Colorado 80111 Phone: 303-773-1184 Fax: 303-773-9884 Dear Dr. Moses, I am appalled to read these articles and learn that geography teacher, Jay Bennish, who teaches at Overland High School in Aurora, Colorado is in trouble and out of work for things he said in an honors geography class. What happened to freedom of speech and for the right of students and teachers to discuss freely the current events of the day. How can this be avoided in a subject like geography? Are our teachers to be given a script to read in the classroom and the admonition to prohibit any discussion that deviates from that script? And, even more outrageous, is the School District going to dance to the tune of right-wing radio announcers? Is this what our educational system is going to come to? Is congress ready to appoint Bill O'Reiley and Fox's Hannity and Colmes to head the Department of Education? This is an outrageous travesty of justice that won't be tolerated and has already attracted the attention of people throughout our country. Put Jay Bennish back to work with all of his back pay (if he has lost any) and keep right-wing radio out of the classroom! Teachers like Jay are beacons of light and should be cherished! His comments as reprinted above show that he is the voice of reason. Sincerely, Bonnie Weinstein, Bay Area United Against War Www.bauaw.org VOTE ON LINE FOR JAY BENNISH AND FREE SPEECH: http://blogs.rockymountainnews.com/denver/rockytalklive/ ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- SCROLL DOWN TO READ: EVENT ANNOUNCEMENTS GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS ARTICLES IN FULL LINKS ONLY ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- EVENT ANNOUNCEMENTS ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- COME TO THE NEXT BOARD MEETING TO DEMAND THAT THE S.F. BOARD OF EDUCATION CUT ALL SCHOOL TIES TO THE MILITARY! TUESDAY, MARCH 14, 7:00 P.M. REGULAR BOARD MEETING Irving G. Breyer Board Meeting Room 555 Franklin Street, First Floor San Francisco, CA 94102 Please note: the "Equal Access for Recruiters" Board of Education Policy (62-14Sp1) is designed to circumvent and essentially un-do the "opt out" forms signed by the overwhelming majority (95 percent) of parents in the SFUSD who DON'T want the military to contact their kids! "Equal Access for Recruiters" (62-14Sp1) will come before the board at this meeting for final approval. It has been recommended 8-0 by the Curriculum Committee. It is urgent we turn out to protest this resolution! If you wish to speak at the Board meeting Tuesday, March 14, Call: 241-6427 to get on the speakers list. Monday between 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Tuesday, between 8:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-. Text of Resolution No. 62-14Sp1 – Authorization to Approve Board Policy Regarding Equal Access for Recruiters [DRAFT] BOARD OF EDUCATION POLICY (62-14Sp1) Equal Access for Recruiters Recruiters of all types (including but not limited to employment, education, service opportunities, military or military alternatives) shall be given equal access to San Francisco Unified School District high schools. The principal at each school shall determine the frequency with which recruiters may visit, but in order to be in compliance with the equal access rule, each recruiter shall be granted the opportunity to visit any single campus at least as frequently as any other recruiter. For purposes of this policy, each branch of the military is considered to be a separate recruiting organization. This recruitment policy must be posted throughout the year. At a minimum, these rules shall be posted in the school’s main office, counseling center, career center, and on the District’s website. All recruiters must comply with the following guidelines: • Recruiters must obtain the written permission of the principal or designee to be on campus. Such permission may be granted for the full year; • Recruiters must contact the principal or designee prior to their visit to schedule specific times to be on campus, and the monthly schedule for such visits must be posted at a minimum in the school’s main office, counseling center, and career center; • All recruiters must sign in and sign out in the school’s main office each time they visit the campus; • Recruiters shall limit all recruiting activities to the specific area designated by the principal or designee. This designated area must be within a specific confined space on the campus (such as a classroom or office); recruiters may not roam the campus or grounds. Recruiters may not pursue or approach students; recruiting activities may only be directed at students who affirmatively approach the recruiter for information. • The principal or designee may permit recruiters to leave information in a designated area. Such information must be dated and clearly identify a contact name and number that students, staff or others may call if there are questions about the information; • If the principal or designee designates such an area for recruiter information, the area must include a clearly visible sign that states that SFUSD and the school do not endorse or sponsor the materials; • All recruiters must clearly identify the organization that they are recruiting for: military recruiters must be in uniform, and all other recruiters must wear identification that similarly indicates the organization that they are recruiting for; • Recruiters may not take students out of the designated recruitment area or off campus; • No more than two recruiters from each organization may recruit on campus at one time. Recruiters of all types are cautioned to remember that the primary goal of the SFUSD high schools is to educate students. Recruiting activities that are disruptive or that interfere with the traditional activities of a given school day are not permitted. Recruiters who harass students or staff, provide misleading or untrue information, or who do not comply with applicable state and federal laws or SFUSD rules or policies may have their organization’s permission to recruit on campus revoked for the remainder of the semester, or the semester following the infraction if the infraction occurs after the fifteenth week of the semester. The principal or designee, in his or her discretion, may provide students with access to information to correct any misleading or untrue information provided by such recruiter(s), if available. The principal shall retain copies of the recruitment calendars and sign-in sheets and provide such copies to the Assistant Superintendent for High Schools by June 30th of each year. SAN FRANCISCO UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT San Francisco, California Superintendent’s Proposal No. 62-14Sp1 AUTHORIZATION TO APPROVE BOARD POLICY REGARDING EQUAL ACCESS FOR RECRUITERS REQUESTED ACTION: That the Board of Education approves a new Board Policy regarding Equal Access for Recruiters. This policy provides for equal access to SFUSD high schools for all types of recruiters, including but not limited to employment, education, service opportunities, military or military alternatives. The policy also outlines the guidelines and restrictions related to recruiting activities and access. OPEN LETTER TO THE SAN FRANCISCO BOARD OF EDUCATION: Dear Board Members, The group I am with, Bay Area United Against War, has been actively campaigning against military recruitment in our schools. The recent decision by the Supreme Court making "equal access" mandatory in order to receive "No Child Left Behind" (NCLF) funds dictates that we take action against this order since it is clearly against the wishes of the majority of voters who voted for Proposition I, to get the military out of our schools, and the overwhelming majority parents of the San Francisco Unified School District who signed the "OPT OUT" forms to keep the military away from their kids. Instead of adopting a policy, i.e., Education Policy (62-14Sp1), that facilitates the complete circumvention of the "OPT OUT" forms and ignores the wishes of the both the voters and the parents of San Francisco to keep the military away from our kids, the school district could and should make these military visits as unpleasant as possible. I suggest that as long as this war is being carried out against the will of the Iraqi people and, against the will of the American people; and as long as the "No Child Left Behind Act" is still in effect, the military should be given a stall in the dirtiest bathroom or basement closet on school or campus when they insist on coming! And huge warning signs should be posted at the door and around school stating: "The material and information you receive from the military is full of lies and false promises designed to get you to sign up to risk your life in an unlawful, and unjust war. While, under the current "No Child Left Behind Act," the school can't legally prevent the military from coming on school grounds without losing funding that will keep the school open, we can and will warn students of the deceitful and unlawful attempts by the military to get them to sign up. STUDENTS BEWARE! DON'T BELIEVE A WORD THE MILITARY SAYS! DON'T RELY ON THEIR CONTRACT WITH YOU! AS SOON AS YOU JOIN IT BECOMES NULL AND VOID AND YOU BELONG TO THEM! YOUR LIFE WILL NO LONGER BE YOUR OWN! TURN AWAY FROM MILITARY RECRUITMENT AND DON'T JOIN THE MILITARY! GO TO THE COUNSELING OFFICE FOR INFORMATION ON COLLEGE AND JOB TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES NOT CONNECTED TO THE MILITARY! GO TO COLLEGE OR JOB TRAINING NOT INTO COMBAT!" There is nothing unlawful against protesting the presence of the military in our schools. Further, the San Francisco Board of Education should make it its urgent business to organize against the "No Child Left Behind Act" on a national level by contacting school districts around the country to protest this act of holding our children and their schools hostage for military recruitment purposes. The military does not need our help. They have a two billion dollar advertising budget with McCann/Erickson, a huge advertising agency, for the purposes of military recruitment of young people. They publish slick brochures that tell kids they can be anything from a musician to a rocket scientist if they just serve their country for a few years. Yet less than ten percent of all enlistees ever get money for college. And, sadly, some don't ever come home at all. If the school district must take the money, they should at least make the military pay the consequences of disregarding the wishes of the school community in San Francisco by boldly protesting their presence each and every time they come to a school. Sincerely, Bonnie Weinstein, Bay Area United Against War www.bauaw.org ....................................................... Planning Meeting for the Luis Primo Speaking Event on March 25, 2006 7:00 PM, Thursday, March 9, 2006 Socialist Action Bookstore 298 Valencia Street (corner of 14th Street), San Francisco Primo has his passport in hand and his tickets have been secured; the UNT is eager for him to visit the US and tell the Venezuelan story! Let’s roll up our sleeves and make this happen! Everyone is urged to attend this planning meeting. We will go over all the many tasks and assignments in preparation for this most important event. If you have suggestions for where we can distribute fliers at upcoming events, please make a suggestion. There is one special task we need help on now: Who can translate the flier into Spanish? If you need leaflets to distribute, we will have them at the meeting! Call Hands Off Venezuela 415-786-1680 for more information or email: sfbay@ushov.org ....................................................... March for Peace: Latino Voices of Opposition to Iraq War! http://humane-rights-agenda.blogspot.com/2006/03/march-for-peace-latino-voices-of.html On March 12, 2006 Fernando Suarez del Solar, Pablo Paredes, Camilo Mejia and Aidan Delgado will lead a coalition of the willing across a 241 mile quest for peace that aims at raising Latino voice of opposition to the War in Iraq. The March will run from Tijuana, Mexico all the way to The Mission district of San Francisco making strategic, symbolic and ceremonial stops along the way. The 241 mile march is inspired by Gandhi’s 1930 Salt March protesting British imperialism and will serve as a loud cry for an end to the bloodshed in Iraq. more info see http://www.swiftsmartveterans.com/ War resisters and conscientious objectors Pablo Paredes and Aidan Delgado are coming to the Bay Area to speak at about 20 events! including at least 9 public events, from Sacramento to Watsonville, as well as Oakland, San Francisco, Berkeley, Davis and San Rafael. Additional speaking events are scheduled at schools. The schedule for the public events of the speaking tour and a high resolution flyer are now available at http://www.veteransforpeace.org/paredes/paredes.htm. Pablo Paredes will be in the Bay Area from Feb 27 – Mar 5, and Aidan Delgado from Mar 2 – Mar 5. Please circulate widely, and we hope to see you at least at one event! Steve Check out the online January '06 Objector - http://www.objector.org/magazine.html Steve Morse GI Rights Program Coordinator Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors (CCCO) 405 14th St., Suite #205, Oakland, CA 94612 (510) 465-1617 or (888) 231-2226, Fax: 510-465-2459 www.objector.org For discharge information, visit: www.girights.org GI Rights Hotline: (800) 394-9544 General, your tank is a mighty vehicle. It shatters the forest and crushes a hundred men. But it has one defect: it needs drivers. General, your bomber is awesome. It flies faster than a hurricane and bears more than an elephant. But it has one defect: it needs a mechanic. General, a man is quite expendable. He can fly and can kill. But he has one defect: he can think. Bertolt Brecht ....................................................... A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition Act Now to Stop War & End Racism http://www.ANSWERcoalition.org http://www.actionsf.org sf@internationalanswer.org 2489 Mission St. Rm. 24 San Francisco: 415-821-6545 Make a tax-dedctible donation to A.N.S.W.E.R. by credit card over a secure server, learn how to donate by check. Postering for March 18 Anti-war Protest - Volunteer Now! A.N.S.W.E.R. ACTIVIST MEETING TUESDAYs, 7PM 2489 Mission St. Room 24 (at 21st St.) SF, near 24th St. BART Now more than ever, the anti-war movement needs to reach out to the thousands of people who are turning against the war and occupation of Iraq. Your help is needed. Call the ANSWER office for the schedule to go out in teams to poster for an hour or two. Pick up flyers, posters and stickers at the ANSWER office at 2489 Mission St. Room 30. Your help is needed! Call 415-821-6545 for hours. ............................................................... WALKIN TO NEW ORLEANS MARCH 14 THROUGH MARCH 19, 2006 http://vetgulfmarch.org/ Veterans For Peace (VFP), Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW), Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW), Military Families Speak Out (MFSO), and Gold Star Families for Peace (GSFP), at the call of the Mobile Veterans For Peace Chapter #130, will conduct a march between Mobile, AL, and New Orleans, LA, from March 14-19, 2006 -- the third anniversary of the invasion and occupation of Iraq. This historical event highlights the connections between the economic and human cost of war in the Middle East and the failure of our government to respond to human needs at home, especially the needs of poor people and people of color. The government's negligent and often hostile response to hurricane survivors is mirrored by that same government's continued commitment to an illegal, immoral war fought at a staggering cost. These are twin disasters, and the veterans of wars abroad along with the survivors of Katrina and Rita are joining together for this march and caravan to establish ties of material solidarity between those who oppose the war abroad and the social and economic costs for working people at home. ADVISORY: Spring Break corresponds to the march. If you plan to get plane tickets to Mobile and from New Orleans, book them early. ............................................................... NATIONAL WEEK OF CAMPUS ACTION Week of March 13-17 Students Say NO to War in Iraq! College Not Combat, Troops Out Now! (*Spring break alternative: Schools on spring break during March 13-17 will hold events the week of March 20) Student week of action coordinated by the Campus Antiwar Network http://www.campusantiwar.net RecruitersOut@yahoo.com Charles Jenks Chair of Advisory Board and Web Manager Traprock Peace Center 103A Keets Road Deerfield, MA 01342 413-773-7427 fax 413-773-7507 http://www.traprockpeace.org ........................................................... Third Anniversary of "Shock and Awe" Saturday, March 18, 2006, 11:00 a.m. CIVIC CENTER San Francisco Monday, March 20, 2006 Youth and Student Day of Resistance to Imperialism http://www.answercoalition.org/ ........................................................... FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE New play by local writer Tommi Avicolli Mecca Following on the heels of his critically acclaimed one-man show last year, local author and activist Tommi Avicolli Mecca is debuting his new work, "the aching in god's heart," March 16-18, 8pm and March 19 at 5pm at Theatre St. Boniface, 175 Golden Gate/Leavenworth. The play takes a hard look at the meaning of love and family. Sofia, a dutiful daughter who has given up everything to take care of la famiglia, is suddenly forced to face the truth about her life of devotion. "The play really looks at the conflict that develops between 'la via vecchia' (the old ways) of the immigrant generation and those of the first generation born here in America. It's the Italian/American story we don't see on TV or in the movies," says author Avicolli Mecca. The cast includes Renee Saucedo, Diana Hartman, Giancarlo Campagna and Avicolli Mecca. The four performances of "aching" will benefit four local nonprofits: Housing Rights Committee, Day Laborers Program, St. Boniface Neighborhood Center and the Family Link. Admission is $10 but no one will be turned away for lack of funds. Bring a check for your favorite nonprofit. To reserve tickets, call (415) 861-5848. ........................................................... SATURDAY, MARCH 18 AND 25 VENEZUELA AT THE CROSSROADS Workers on the Move Luis Primo, Venezuelan Labor Leader to Speak in San Francisco The U.S. Hands Off Venezuela Campaign invites you to hear Luis Primo, a central leader of the Venezuelan National Union of Workers (UNT), the new labor federation in Venezuela which has replaced its corrupt predecessor which supported the U.S.-backed attempted coup against President Chavez. Luis Primo will address the antiwar rally on Saturday, March 18 and will speak at a public meeting on Saturday, March 25. Currently, Primo is a Regional Coordinator for the UNT (Caracas-Miranda), he heads the Union/Political Education for the UNT on the national level, and works with the Ministry of Labor on the Committee on the Recovered Factories. Primo will be running for the National Leadership of the UNT at its upcoming congress this spring. Hands Off Venezuela has been organized around the principle that the people of Venezuela should be able to determine their own destiny, without the interference of foreign governments, particularly the U.S. government. We have organized numerous educational events to inform people in this country about the important events unfolding in Venezuela so that people here can have an informed position. Without the truth, people are in no position to act. We hope that Luis Primo's visit to California will be one of many exchanges between Venezuelan and American trade unionists. In addition to speaking in San Francisco, he will be touring the West Coast where he will speak in a half-dozen cities. To make this possible, Hands Off Venezuela Campaign has launched a fund raising drive to cover the many expenses of the tour. Volunteers are needed to help organize the event, and donations of any amount are greatly appreciated. Donations can be sent to: HOV, 4579 18th St., San Francisco, CA 94114. Letters of support or endorsements of the tour are also appreciated and can be sent to sfbay@ushov.org. When and Where: 7 pm, Saturday, March 25, 2006 ILWU Local 34 Hall, 4 Berry St., San Francisco (Located next door to SBC Park. Take MUNI N line toward SBC Park.) Partial List of Endorsers Dolores Huerta San Francisco Labor Council (AFL-CIO) South Bay Labor Council (AFL-CIO) Contra Costa Central Labor Council (AFL-CIO) Vanguard Public Foundation San Francisco Bay View National Black Newspaper Alan Benjamin, Executive Board, SF Labor Council, Co-coordinator Open World Conference Fred Hirsch, Vice President of Plumbers and Fitters Local 393, San Jose California Gloria LaRiva, President, Local 39521 Media Workers Sector/CWA* Louie Rocha, President CWA Local 9423* Global Exchange Chris Gilbert and Karen Bennett, MATRIX Program*, UC Berkeley Art Museum* Dorinda Moreno, Hitec Aztec Communications, Santa Maria, CA. Cesar Chavez Lifetime Achievement Legacy Award, 2003 National Network on Cuba Network of Bay Area Worker Cooperatives Todd Chretien, Green Party candidate for U.S. Senate, California Peace and Freedom Party * for identification purposes only Admission: $5, $3 seniors, unemployed, and students For more information, call 415-786-1680 or email sfbay@ushov.org labor donated ........................................................... Power in Eden: Emergence of Gender Hierarchies in the Ancient World With Bruce Lerro 4 Sunday evenings from 7 to 9 March 19th, 26th, April 2nd, April 9th Marxist Library 6501 Telegraph (cross-street Alcatraz) -How Relevant is Engels’ Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State in the light of over one-hundred years of anthropology and archeology? -To what extent was “primitive communism” egalitarian in terms of gender relations? -When in history does individualism start? Is it a product of capitalism or does it go back further? -Agricultural State Civilizations (The Asiatic Mode of Production) were the most oppressive to women in history. Why was there no women’s movement in the ancient world? Bruce Lerro has been teaching and writing about the origins of class and gender inequalities for the past fifteen years. He has lectured at New College of California and teaches regularly at Golden Gate University, Dominican University, John F. Kennedy University and Diablo Valley College. He is the author of Power in Eden: Emergence of Gender Hierarchies in the Ancient World, Trafford Press, 2005. Format Initial Talk—broadly discussing all four questions Part I—In Depth Reading and Discussion of each of the Four Questions Part II –Optional—In Depth Reading and Discussion of Other Chapters in the text. This will be determined by Bruce and the class participants Pedagogy The initial talk will be a lecture with brief discussion at the end of each question For all four classes in part one there will be assigned readings during the week and each class will be a discussion of the readings. We will discuss clarification as well as substantive questions each week. There will be no lecture. Required Reading: Power in Eden: Emergence of Gender Hierarchies in the Ancient World My Approach I consider myself a Marxist-materialist and I believe that the Marxian tradition must be informed and enriched by over one hundred years of research. I consider Marxism a method rather than a scholastic dogma. What You May Learn -The process of female subordination was a very gradual and had super-structural and psychological components as well as economic -Engels was right about some things and wrong about others -A provocative stage theory about how male dominance originated -There are well-researched conditions under which women will or will not be likely to rebel ...................................................................... April 7-9, 2006 Quality Inn (Located On US 31) Kokomo, Indiana 46902 Meeting Introductions 7:ooPM Friday Saturday & Sunday Begin With Registration At 8:00AM Working people are under attack as never before. The institutions on which workers have dependedˆthe Democratic Party and the unions have utterly failed to defend us. Democratic as well as Republican politicians support the war in Iraq, the Patriot Act, savage cuts in social programs, outsourcing jobs, attacking public education, rewriting bankruptcy laws to benefit credit card companies. Union officials work with corporations to cut wages, rob retirees of their pensions, impose wage tiers, cut health care. They replace worker solidarity with worker-against-worker Company Teams. They support the war-makers in DC. Meanwhile most working people, blue-collar and white-collar, employed and unemployed, remain unorganized and largely defenseless. The politicians and the unions are part of the problem. We cannot rely on them and we cannot change them. We have to go around them, to create institutions that we control to fight for the values, the livelihoods, the future of working people. SOLIDARITY NOW is a new organization formed in Peoria, IL in 2005. Our goals are to rebuild the culture of mutual support that is natural to working people, to fight for the goals of working people, and to build a movement for democratic revolution. If you are an auto worker, a teacher, a nurse, a student, a professor, work in an office or school or hospital or university, are employed or unemployed, working or retired, we invite you to join Solidarity Now and to join us in Kokomo for our National Meeting. To be assured of a room, please make your reservations now at the Quality Inn, Kokomo, IN (765-459-8001). Tell them you are with Solidarity Now. Rooms are $58 per night, single or double, breakfast included. Please let Tino Scalici (tinoscalici@msn.com) or Dave Stratman (newdem@aol.com) know if you would like to join Solidarity Now or if you plan to attend the meeting. (For more info on Solidarity Now, please see our web site at solidaritynow.com.) We are still negotiating the cost of the conference rooms. We will either take up a collection or charge a small conference fee to cover the costs. The meeting will be an all day event. Future of the Union Mailing List http://futureoftheunion.com/mailman/listinfo/news_futureoftheunion.com ...................................................................... Major Mobilization Set for April 29th Dear Friends, We are pleased to announce the kick-off for the organizing of what promises to be a major national mobilization on Saturday, April 29th. Today, each of the initiating groups (see list below) is announcing this mobilization. Our organizations have agreed to work together on this project for several reasons: The April 29th mobilization will highlight our call for an immediate end to the war on Iraq. We are also raising several other critical issues that are directly connected to one another. It is time for our constituencies to work more closely: connecting the issues we work on by bringing diverse communities into a common project. It is important for our movements to help set the agenda for the Congressional elections later in the year. Our unified action in the streets is a vital part of that process. Please share the April 29th call widely, and please use the links at the end of the call to endorse this timely mobilization and to sign up for email updates. April 29th Initiating Organizations United for Peace and Justice Rainbow/PUSH Coalition National Organization for Women Friends of the Earth U.S. Labor Against the War Climate Crisis Coalition Peoples' Hurricane Relief Fund National Youth and Student Peace Coalition A war based on lies Spying, corruption and attacks on civil liberties Katrina survivors abandoned by government MARCH FOR PEACE, JUSTICE AND DEMOCRACY End the war in Iraq - Bring all our troops home now! SATURDAY, APRIL 29, 2006 NEW YORK CITY Unite for change - let's turn our country around! The times are urgent and we must act. Too much is too wrong in this country. We have a foreign policy that is foreign to our core values, and domestic policies wreaking havoc at home. It's time for a change. No more never-ending oil wars! Protect our civil liberties & immigrant rights. End illegal spying, government corruption and the subversion of our democracy. Rebuild our communities, starting with the Gulf Coast. Stop corporate subsidies and tax cuts for the wealthy while ignoring our basic needs. Act quickly to address the climate crisis and the accelerating destruction of our environment. Our message to the White House and to Congress is clear: either stand with us or stand aside! We are coming together to march, to vote, to speak out and to turn our country around! Join us in New York City on Saturday, April 29th Click here to endorse this mobilization: http://unitedforpeace.org/modinput4.php?modin=119 Click here to sign up for email updates on plans for April 29th: http://www.unitedforpeace.org/email April 29th Initiating Organizations United for Peace and Justice Rainbow/PUSH Coalition National Organization for Women Friends of the Earth U.S. Labor Against the War Climate Crisis Coalition Peoples' Hurricane Relief Fund National Youth and Student Peace Coalition ...................................................................... ANSWER Coalition: All Out for April 29 in New York City! End Occupation from Iraq to Palestine, to Haiti, and Everywhere! Fight for workers rights, civil rights and civil liberties - unite against racism! 300,000 Came to Washington on Sept. 24 In recent weeks the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition has been in the final stages for planning a national demonstration in Washington DC on April 29, 2006. This action was to follow the local and regional demonstrations for March 18-19 and youth and student actions scheduled on March 20 on the 3rd anniversary of the criminal bombing, invasion and occupation of Iraq. On September 24, 2005 more than 300,000 people surrounded the White House in the largest mobilization against the Iraq war and occupation since the invasion of Iraq in March 2003. This demonstration was initiated by the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition in May 2005 and we urged a united front with other major anti-war coalitions and communities. We marched demanding immediate and unconditional withdrawal from Iraq. We also stood in solidarity with the Palestinian and Haitian people and others who are suffering under and resisting occupation. Coming as it did following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, we changed the demands of the September 24 protest to include the slogan "From Iraq to New Orleans, FundPeople's Needs not the War Machine." During the past several years, and as demonstrated in a powerful display on September 24, the anti-war movement has grown significantly in its breadth and depth as the leadership has included the Arab and Muslim community -- those who are among the primary targets of the Bush Administration's current war at home and abroad. The anti-war sentiment inside the United States is rapidly becoming a significant obstacle to the Bush Administration's war in Iraq. The anti-war movement has the potential to be a critical deterrent to the U.S. government's aspirations for Empire. At this moment the White House and Pentagon are issuing threats and making plans to move against other sovereign countries. Iran and Syria are being targeted as the U.S. seeks to consolidate power in the Middle East. Simultaneously the Bush administration is working to undermine the gains of the people of Latin America by working totopple the democratically elected president of Venezuela and destroy the revolutionary process for social change going on in that country. Likewise it is intensifying the economic war and CIA subversions against Cuba. We believe that our movement must weld together the broadest, most diverse coalition of various sectors and communities into an effective force for change. This requires the inclusion of targeted communities and political clarity. The war in Iraq is not simply an aberrational policy of the Bush neo-conservatives. Iraq is emblematic of a larger war for Empire. It is part of a multi-pronged attack against all those countries that refuse to follow the economic, political and military dictates of the Washington establishment and Wall Street. This is the foundation of the political program upon which the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition has organized mass demonstrations in the recent years. The fact that many hundreds of thousands of people havedemonstrated in Washington D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York and other cities is a testament to the huge progress that has been made in building a new movement on this principled basis. The people of the United States have nothing to gain and everything to lose from the occupation of Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Haiti and the threats of new wars and intervention in Syria, Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, the Philippines, North Korea and elsewhere. It has been made crystal clear in recent weeks that Washington is aggressively prosecuting its strategy of total domination of the Middle East. U.S. leaders are seeking to crush all resistance to their colonial agenda, whether from states or popular movements in the region. The A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition andthe anti-war movement is raising the demand, "U.S. Out of the Middle East." At its core, the war for Empire is supported by the Republican Party and Democratic Party alike, which constitute the twin parties of militarism and war, and this quest for global domination will continue regardless of the outcome of the 2006 election. In fact, leading Democrats are attacking Bush for being "soft" on Iran and North Korea. Real hope for turning the tide rests with building a powerful global movement of resistance in which the people of the United States stand with their sisters and brothers struggling against imperialism and the new colonialism. On the home front the Bush administration is involved in a far-reaching assault against working class communities as most glaringly evidenced by its criminal and racist negligence towards the people of New Orleans and throughout the hurricane ravaged Gulf States. While turning their backs on these communities in the moments ofgreatest need, the U.S. government is now working with the banks and developers who, like vultures, are exploiting mass suffering and dislocation to carry out racist gentrification that only benefits the wealthy. The administration is also working to eviscerate hard-fought civil rights and civil liberties, engaging in a widespread campaign of domestic spying and wiretapping against the people of the U.S. and other assaults against the First and Fourth Amendments. In early December 2005, the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition filed for permits for a national march in Washington DC on April 29, 2006. We were preparing to announce the April 29 action but in recent days we have heard from A.N.S.W.E.R. organizers in a number of unions that U.S. Labor Against the War was seeking union endorsements for a call for an anti-war demonstration on the same day in New York City. Having two demonstrations on April 29 in both Washington D.C. and New York City seems to us to be lessadvantageous than having the movement unite behind one single mobilization. As such, we decided to hold back our announcement. Subsequently, the New York City demonstration has been announced by a number of organizations. Underscoring the need to have the largest possible demonstration on April 29, the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition has decided to fully mobilize, in all of its chapters and organizing centers, to bring people to the New York City demonstration on April 29. The banners and slogans of different coalitions may not be the same, but it is in the interest of everyone to march shoulder-to-shoulder against the criminal war in Iraq and the Bush administration's War for Empire, including its racist, sexist and anti-worker domestic program. All out for a united, mass mobilization on April 29 in New York City! Click here to become a transportation center in your city or town for the April 29 demonstration. Click here to receive updates on A.N.S.W.E.R.'s mobilization for the April 29 NYC demonstration. A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition Act Now to Stop War & End Racism http://www.answercoalition.org/ info@internationalanswer.org National Office in Washington DC: 202-544-3389 New York City: 212-694-8720 Los Angeles: 323-464-1636 San Francisco: 415-821-6545 Click here to unsubscribe from the ANSWER e-mail list. ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- PUSH FOR PEACE MEMORIAL DAY KICKOFF MONDAY, MAY 29, 2006 GOLDEN GATE PARK, S.F. (Exact location to be announced.) Welcome to the Official Push for Peace Site! http://www.pushforpeace.us/civic/index.php?q The Push For Peace movement is geared to combine the efforts of able-bodied activists to those with special needs or challenges, so that all people can participate and be counted. The Push for Peace logo shows a Navy veteran in a wheelchair with a peace sign on the wheel, with people marching behind him. It can be seen at: http://www.pushforpeace.us/civic/index.php?q=node/71 Just in case we don't get to modify the map before the weekend, I'll just name our proposed stops. We start, of course with Golden Gate Park, from there we head south to Los Angeles. Turning east we move to Phoenix, then on to Albuquerque. Now it's north to Denver, and east to St Louis. North again to Chicago, and east to Detroit. Continue east to Cleveland, and then NYC if all goes well Central Park (Imagine), culminating at the gates of the White House on July 4, 2006 Push For Peace is a collective of veterans, progressive activists, and everyday citizens working together through education, motivation, and truth to bring America's troops home from the war in Iraq and to help bring healing and peace to our nation. The Push For Peace movement is geared to combine the efforts of able-bodied activists to those with special needs or challenges, so that all people can participate and be counted. The Push For Peace effort will include organized rallies and marches, as well as appearances and performances by high-profile speakers and entertainers, to rally the American people and show them we stand united with our fellow citizen and soldier. It is our goal to grow the base of participants each day resulting in a cross-country Push culminating at the gates of the White House on July 4, 2006. Events will be scheduled across the country leading up to the big Push in July. So keep checking the Push calendar for events near you. Mapping it all out... [Website shows map of stops in US en route to DC on July 4, 2006...bw] This is a tentative and unfinished P4P route and is only a work in progress. The Push is set to leave Golden Gate Park on Memorial Day 2006 (currently working on permits) and then we will Push our way across the country to arrive in DC across from the White House gathering at Lafayette Park (currently working on permits) on July 4th, 2006. Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, California Las Vegas Nevada Phoenix, Arizona Denver, Colorado Crawford, Texas New Orleans, Louisiana more states pending... Pushing real Democracy! http://www.pushforpeace.us/civic/index.php?q= ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- FACTSHEET The Right To Return, a Basic Right Still Denied http://al-awda.org/facts.html ........................................................... Protests Planned Against Media War Coverage By Danny Schechter Source: MediaChannel.org http://mediachannel.org/blog/node/3378 ........................................................... TELL BUSH AND CONGRESS: STOP THE WAR ON IRAN BEFORE IT STARTS! Please join the online campaign to STOP THE WAR ON IRAN BEFORE IT STARTS! YOUR EMERGENCY ACTION IS NEEDED NOW! Send emails to President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Secretary of State Rice, U.N. Secretary- General Annan, Congressional leaders and the media demanding NO WAR ON IRAN! http://stopwaroniran.org/ ........................................................... March 2006 National Immigrant Solidarity Network Monthly Digest National Immigrant Solidarity Network URL: http://www.ImmigrantSolidarity.org e-mail: Info@ImmigrantSolidarity.org No Immigrant Bashing! Support Immigrant Rights! ........................................................... WHY WE FIGHT A film by Eugene Jarecki [Check out the trailer about this new film. This looks like a very powerful film.] http://www.sonyclassics.com/whywefight/ ........................................................... The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies http://www.law.indiana.edu/uslawdocs/declaration.html http://www.law.ou.edu/hist/decind.html http://www.usconstitution.net/declar.html http://www.indybay.org/news/2006/02/1805195.php Bill of Rights http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.billofrights.html http://www.indybay.org/news/2006/02/1805182.php ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- ARTICLES IN FULL: ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- 1) Employers Sharply Criticize Shift in Unionizing Method to Cards From Elections "Many businesses oppose card checks because they say the procedure makes it much easier for unions to secure majority support, often giving management little chance to present its case against unionization. But unions say companies often prevent fair elections by firing and intimidating union supporters. And, labor leaders complain, elections often become so contentious that nearly half the time unions win, companies fail to sign collective bargaining agreements. Card checks lead much more easily to contracts, union leaders say. By STEVEN GREENHOUSE March 11, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/11/national/11labor.html 2) A Warning From South Dakota New York Times Editorial March 12, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/12/opinion/12sun1.html?hp 3) U.S. Rethinks Its Cutoff of Military Aid to Latin American Nations By STEVEN R. WEISMAN March 12, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/12/politics/12rice.html 4) Prisoners Up Above, 'Nifty-Gifties' Down Below By PAUL von ZIELBAUER March 12, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/12/nyregion/12jail.html 5) Cartoons, Caricatures and the Myth of Artistic Freedom by Mike Alewitz Please Post and Distribute: LaBOR aRT & MuRAL PRoJECT AGITPROP NEWS: 3.13.6 6) Urgent: Israel about to kill Ahmad Saadat Israeli troops storm Palestinian jail From: "Eyad Kishawi" Distribute on all lists Tuesday 14 March 2006, 18:26 Makka Time, 15:26 GMT 7) U.S. Ends Inquiries, Clear Channel Says By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS March 15, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/15/business/15radio.html?pagewanted=all 8) Stop Bush's War By BOB HERBERT March 16, 2006 http://select.nytimes.com/2006/03/16/opinion/16herbert.html?hp 9) TV Stations Fined Over CBS Show Deemed to Be Indecent By JULIE BOSMAN [Big Brother is watching TV, too!...bw] March 16, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/16/business/media/16fine.html 10) Scapegoat, R.I.P. James Bissett National Post Wednesday, March 15, 2006 http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/issuesideas/story.html?id=a629cdda-eb4b-44a6-a2bc-0002b0ec2f0e&p=1 11) Students Protest University President David Caputo’s State of the University Address Brian Kelly | Tuesday, March 14, 2006 Pace University, New York City Campus ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- 1) Employers Sharply Criticize Shift in Unionizing Method to Cards From Elections "Many businesses oppose card checks because they say the procedure makes it much easier for unions to secure majority support, often giving management little chance to present its case against unionization. But unions say companies often prevent fair elections by firing and intimidating union supporters. And, labor leaders complain, elections often become so contentious that nearly half the time unions win, companies fail to sign collective bargaining agreements. Card checks lead much more easily to contracts, union leaders say. By STEVEN GREENHOUSE March 11, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/11/national/11labor.html Above the photographs of Fidel Castro, Kim Jong Il of North Korea and an American union president, the full-page advertisement contains a provocative quotation: "There is no reason to subject the workers to an election." Below the photographs, the advertisement asks, "Who said it?" For the answer, readers are directed to a Web site, which explains that those words were uttered by Bruce S. Raynor, the union president and the leader of Unite Here, which represents hotel, restaurant and apparel workers. In seeking to equate Mr. Raynor with foreign dictators, the business- backed group that ran the advertisement was trying to discredit the most successful strategy that unions have used to try to reverse a decades-long slide in membership. That strategy is known as card checks, a process in which companies grant union recognition once a majority of workers sign cards saying they favor a union. Unions increasingly want to use this procedure to replace the traditional organizing method: secret- ballot elections overseen by the National Labor Relations Board. Many businesses oppose card checks because they say the procedure makes it much easier for unions to secure majority support, often giving management little chance to present its case against unionization. But unions say companies often prevent fair elections by firing and intimidating union supporters. And, labor leaders complain, elections often become so contentious that nearly half the time unions win, companies fail to sign collective bargaining agreements. Card checks lead much more easily to contracts, union leaders say. Card checks were used to sign up roughly 70 percent of the private-sector workers who joined unions last year, according to A.F.L.-C.I.O. officials. That compares with less than 5 percent two decades ago. Through card checks, 150,000 private-sector workers joined unions in 2005. Over the past year, the procedure has been used to unionize 4,600 workers at the Wynn Las Vegas hotel- casino, 5,000 janitors in Houston and 16,500 workers at Cingular, the cellphone company. In an interview this week, Mr. Raynor again maintained that it was better to use card checks than "to subject workers to an election." "Under the National Labor Relations Act, the election process in the United States has turned into a meat grinder for workers," he said. "Each year 20,000 workers are fired or retaliated against for supporting a union." With unions pushing ever harder for card checks, Richard Berman, executive director of the Center for Union Facts, the group that ran the advertisement, said the time was right for business to mount an offensive against them. "The fact is unions now say that as a general rule they don't want N.L.R.B. elections," Mr. Berman said. Mr. Raynor's union is one of five that quit the A.F.L.-C.I.O. over the past year. Though the two camps disagree on many issues, the labor federation's leaders have called for using card checks instead of elections. "Elections just don't work," said Stewart Acuff, the A.F.L.-C.I.O.'s organizing director. "The process is too broken." A study last year by professors at the University of Illinois at Chicago found that during unionization elections, 30 percent of employers fire pro-union workers and 49 percent threaten to close work sites if workers unionize. Critics of card checks say heavy-handed tactics are used in that process, too. Representative Charlie Norwood, Republican of Georgia, who is chairman of the House Subcommittee on Workforce Protections, is sponsoring legislation that would outlaw card checks. His bill has 81 co-sponsors. "Union thugs are allowed to confront individual workers on the job and at their homes, and demand the worker sign a card giving the union exclusive rights to representation," Mr. Norwood wrote in an op-ed article in The Washington Times. Union leaders say that coercion is rare. The National Labor Relations Act gives private-sector workers the right to unionize through card checks or secret-ballot elections. But the act also gives employers the right to insist on elections. The act does not cover government employees. Labor unions are backing a bill that would give unions the right to use card checks while taking away the right of companies to insist on secret-ballot elections. The bill has 210 co-sponsors in the House and 42 in the Senate. But even supporters say it will probably not pass in this Congress because President Bush is likely to veto it. Meanwhile, unions are using various tactics to persuade companies to accept card checks and are also increasingly pressing employers to pledge not to fight unionization efforts. Sometimes unions use contract negotiations at one operation — perhaps agreeing to productivity measures — to get a company to agree to card checks at its other sites. More often, unions undertake confrontational campaigns to squeeze employers to agree to card checks. To pressure Cintas, the giant uniform and laundry company, Unite Here has encouraged workers to bring lawsuits alleging pay violations and racial and sexual discrimination. Cintas has not given in, insisting that secret-ballot elections are fairer. At the Consolidated Biscuit bakery in McComb, Ohio, Bill Lawhorn said more than 70 percent of the workers had signed cards in favor of joining the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers Union when he led efforts to form a union in 2002. Nonetheless, the union lost a secret-ballot election, 485 to 286, after Consolidated Biscuit conducted a vigorous anti-union campaign. Two years later a National Labor Relations Board judge found that managers had illegally spied on union supporters and had warned them that the bakery would go bankrupt if a union was voted in. Mr. Lawhorn was fired the day after the unionization vote. The labor board judge ordered him and six other workers reinstated, ruling that they were illegally fired for supporting a union. The bakery has appealed. Mr. Lawhorn remains unemployed, hoping the appeal process will uphold his reinstatement. "What they did here was un-American," he said. "If we had card check, we'd have a union right now." To support the fight against card checks, the United States Chamber of Commerce has established a Web site, secretballotprotection.com, that criticizes the process and praises elections as more democratic. Randel Johnson, the chamber's vice president for labor, immigration and employee benefits, said card checks usually did not give workers a chance to hear about the downside of unions. "If the unions think the law gives employers too much free rein to fight unions, that's a separate issue and a separate debate," he said. "That's not a reason to replace the fairest process, secret-ballot elections." Mr. Raynor sees it differently. "A worker can join a church or synagogue or the Republican Party by signing a card," Mr. Raynor said. "That's how people join organizations in the United States. The idea that workers can't join a union by signing their name is ludicrous." ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- 2) A Warning From South Dakota New York Times Editorial March 12, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/12/opinion/12sun1.html?hp When President Bush's Supreme Court nominees were asked about abortion and Roe v. Wade, their answers ranged from vague to opaque. But the state legislature in South Dakota felt it heard the underlying message loud and clear. Now, South Dakota has thrown down the gauntlet. It adopted a law last week that makes every abortion that is not necessary to save the life of the mother a crime. The law is clearly unconstitutional under existing Supreme Court rulings. But its backers are hoping that the addition of John Roberts and Samuel Alito to the court will be enough to change things. The law should be struck down because it imposes an unacceptable burden on women. But it should also serve as a warning that the threat to abortion rights has reached a new level. South Dakota's abortion law is the most restrictive one adopted by any state since Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973. It does not contain exceptions for pregnancies that result from rape or from incest. Nor does it allow abortions that are necessary to preserve the health of the mother. The law is unlikely to go into force anytime soon. If it did, it would simply drive women — as in the pre-Roe days — to risk their lives to end their pregnancies with illegal back-alley abortions. Gov. Mike Rounds, who signed the bill into law, said that the "true test of a civilization" was how it treated "the most vulnerable and helpless," including "unborn children." But his state has hardly been a leader in protecting vulnerable children who have left the womb. The nation's three worst counties for child poverty at the time of the last census were all in South Dakota, according to the Children's Defense Fund. Buffalo County, home to the Crow Creek Indian Reservation, was dead last. South Dakota's law defies Supreme Court precedents, which hold that states cannot put an "undue burden" on abortion rights and cannot ban abortions necessary to preserve the mother's health. But anti-abortion forces seem eager to see how firm those precedents will be with Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito changing the balance. The test seems premature, since even if both men voted to overturn Roe there would still only be four votes. Justice Anthony Kennedy, a moderate conservative, has sided with the court's four liberals on this point. But abortion opponents may be hoping he can be pressured to change. They have also begun predicting that Justice John Paul Stevens, the oldest member, will leave the court, allowing President Bush to appoint another anti-Roe justice. Whatever the fate of the South Dakota law, it seems likely to jump-start a whole new era of abortion battles. More states may soon follow South Dakota's lead, and if the membership of the Supreme Court changes, abortion may become illegal in much or even all of the country. Roe ushered in three decades of complacency for the majority of Americans who support abortion rights. South Dakota's harsh new law is a clear sign that the time for complacency is over. ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- 3) U.S. Rethinks Its Cutoff of Military Aid to Latin American Nations By STEVEN R. WEISMAN March 12, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/12/politics/12rice.html SANTIAGO, Chile, March 11 — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice indicated Saturday that the United States would look for ways to resume military assistance to Latin American nations cut off from aid programs because of their refusal to shield Americans from the International Criminal Court. Officials traveling with Ms. Rice said that in meeting with President Evo Morales of Bolivia, she had emphasized the importance of cooperating on efforts to combat drugs despite his vow to end coca plant eradication programs. The newly installed Bolivian leader favors the legal cultivation of coca, the plant used to manufacture cocaine, but says he opposes cocaine and has agreed to let American antidrug officials remain in the country. In a friendly but pointed gesture, he gave Ms. Rice a small guitar decorated on the front with real leaves from a coca plant in lacquer. Ms. Rice, perhaps not realizing that the decoration was from the plant that the United States has sought to eradicate, then smiled and strummed the guitar for television cameras. American officials said Bolivian leader was clearly trying to show how growing the plant that is made into cocaine is a part of his nation's culture. Eliminating or reducing military assistance to countries like Chile and Bolivia that are seeking to combat terrorism or drug trafficking is "sort of the same as shooting ourselves in the foot," Ms. Rice told reporters on Friday as she traveled here for the inauguration of Michelle Bachelet as the new president of Chile. Ms. Rice said, however, that the Bush administration had limited flexibility in restoring aid because a law enacted by Congress required the cutoff of military aid to countries that did not exempt American citizens from being brought before the court. At least 30 countries have declined to enact an exemption, including 12 in Latin America and the Caribbean. At the time the law was adopted, the Defense Department supported it on grounds that American military officials based overseas might be brought before the court. More recently, administration officials said Defense Department officials had become concerned about the loss of military cooperation with key allies. Although the law allows President Bush to apply a waiver to cutting off military assistance, State Department officials said the administration was concerned that if some waivers were granted, other countries would demand them as well. A senior State Department official, briefing reporters under ground rules requiring anonymity, said Ms. Rice told Mr. Morales that Washington would to try to help provide economic opportunities to the "marginalized sectors" of Bolivia's economy. ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- 4) Prisoners Up Above, 'Nifty-Gifties' Down Below By PAUL von ZIELBAUER March 12, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/12/nyregion/12jail.html The Brooklyn House of Detention, bounded by Atlantic Avenue and the criminal courts building, is apparently headed into a mixed-use future. Soon, it will house not only inmates and jail cells, but also, in a vision endorsed by the mayor, a 24,000-square-foot strip mall on the street level. The biggest question may now be which businesses the Department of Correction, the property's landlord, will bring to this increasingly residential section of Boerum Hill. City and borough officials have publicly suggested a high- end food store, a children's clothing outlet or law offices. But retailing experts, community groups and New York City business owners interviewed Friday had their own ideas. "There's a tremendous amount of potential to sell what I call the nifty-gifties," said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst for the NPD Group, a market research firm. "You have a captive audience, even with the visitors," he added. Forget boutique stores. "Think of it as more of an upscale airport gift shop." Jesse Masyr, a Manhattan real estate lawyer, said "neighborhood-support retail," meaning small convenience -oriented shops, would have the most success under the jail. Forget about big box retailers. "You're not going to find a Target or Home Depot under 100,000 square feet," Mr. Masyr said. Even Circuit City or Best Buy stores typically require 50,000 square feet. Anthony Malkin, president of W&M Properties, said the jail should focus on attracting retailers who offer basic services — "a place to get coffee, a place to get a doughnut." "Could it be a Starbucks?" Mr. Malkin asked. "Is there a need for a FedEx? What about a Kinko's?" "Just because it's a jail," he said, "doesn't mean that it can't have good retail use." Whatever the Correction Department decides, mixing the jail space with retail, or even a restaurant, is a brilliant idea, said Gary Alterman, executive vice president of Newmark Knight Frank Retail. "It's a good retail area, it's strong, it's healthy, it's residential," he said. "The criminals are not coming out to go shopping, but certainly there's going to be plenty of visitors there." Adding retail to the jail, which is currently closed, would be part of a $240 million redevelopment project that would also add jail beds, said Martin F. Horn, the Department of Correction commissioner. He has told community groups that he favors doubling the jail's capacity, to nearly 1,600 beds. The shopping area would be limited to the ground floor, along three sides of the block the jail occupies south of Downtown Brooklyn. Many retail chains did not seem enthusiastic. Executives at Duane Reade, the Gap, Dean & Deluca and Old Navy did not return calls on Friday asking if they might be interested in becoming jail tenants. Representatives from Starbucks, Target, Home Depot and Trader Joe's did return calls, but only to say they had no comment or were not interested. "At this time, in our two-year plan, Brooklyn is not in it," said Alison Mochizuki, a spokeswoman for Trader Joe's, an upscale food market with a store opening near Union Square later this month. A spokesman for Home Depot said the space under the jail was far too small. "On that alone, we wouldn't consider it," said the spokesman, Yancey Casey. Some neighborhood residents said they would welcome convenience shops under the jail; there are none in the immediate area now. But other neighbors are upset at Mr. Horn and Marty Markowitz, the Brooklyn borough president, for limiting the jail's redevelopment to ground-level retail. "This is outrageous, what's going on," said Sandy Balboza, president of the Atlantic Avenue Betterment Association, which wants the jail closed permanently. But others see the potential for retail gold. Mr. Cohen, the retail industry analyst, said the Department of Correction should consider opening its own gift shop. "They might even be able to brand the prison," he said. "The New York correctional facility logo might really take off." Simon Dinally, the owner of Reliable Hardware, on 18th Avenue in Brooklyn, said he would consider selling his wares — saws, drills, files — and offering locksmith service under the 10-story jail. He dismissed the suggestion that the city might not rent space to a business like his: "It's a nonissue, not even something to think about. Like a liquor store next to a church." ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*-------- 5) Cartoons, Caricatures and the Myth of Artistic Freedom by Mike Alewitz Please Post and Distribute: LaBOR aRT & MuRAL PRoJECT AGITPROP NEWS: 3.13.6 Most working people understand the inherent power of the cartoon – it's one of the ways we can directly respond to injustice and exploitation at the workplace. Just fill in the balloon coming out of the boss' mouth. Make the words as stupid as possible – its usually not a stretch. We diminish the authority of our overseers when we ridicule their arbitrary whims, greed and ignorance. Published cartoonists do essentially the same thing, but frequently directed at the symbols of state power. Given the stumbling misspeaks of George Bush and the sleazy deceptions of his spokes-zombies, or their overseas counterparts, these determined artists face a daunting task. Yet they bravely forge ahead – attempting to reach and influence a large viewing public. But can cartoonists, either here or abroad, mobilize millions of people or incite the destruction of foreign embassies? Do they wield such awesome power? The mainstream media has presented an avalanche of muddled commentary and deliberate misinformation about the recent cartoon protests. Artists and activists need to take a critical look at these ongoing events and ask themselves: Is this really a confrontation between the insensitive-but-free- _expression-loving artists versus the injured-but-misguided-conservative Muslims marching in lockstep to religious fundamentalists? Or, is there more to this than meets the eye? Something Rotten "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark." - William Shakespeare, (Hamlet - I, iv, 90) Western commentators were downright indignant at the angry response to the anti-Islam cartoons published by the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten. For it's part, the paper invoked the mantle of freedom of the press - other European publications quickly proffered their solidarity by also printing the images. All the sanctimonious talk of democratic rights is somewhat difficult to swallow. Racism and xenophobia are nothing new to Jyllands-Posten - the journal was openly supportive of Italian Fascism and ambivalent towards Nazism. Their ire is now directed at immigrant workers. Jyllands-Posten enjoys widespread popularity in Denmark. The Danish ruling elite has fostered deep divisions in its society by promoting vicious anti- immigrant policies. Recently it became illegal for native-born Danes to marry "foreigners" until age 24. There is a growing ultra-rightist movement led by the Danish People's Party. Artists often perceive European governments as more enlightened than Washington, but anti-war and pacifist posturing by these countries is just a mask for their own competing economic interests. Their refined cultures are based on bloody conquest and exploitation, epitomized by museums bursting with the plundered art of Asia and Africa. Despite it's patina of civility, Denmark is no different from other imperialist countries that reap enormous corporate profits from racism and imperialism. Behind the Protests The Boston Tea Party was not about tea, the civil-rights sit-ins were not about Woolworth's hamburgers and the cartoon protests are not about cartoons. The underlying causes of this social explosion are foreign occupation of Arab lands, western support to reactionary Mid-East regimes, lack of education, social services and healthcare and the degradation of millions of people. Protests are fueled by the knowledge that the developed nations of the world possess enormous wealth – vast riches that come, in good part, from the exploitation of the people and natural resources of Africa and the Middle East. The mass mobilizations are part of a global struggle for human rights. Some of the largest demonstrations have occurred in Iran and Syria - countries that face the imminent threat of economic sanctions or US military action. Syrians and Iranians need only look across their borders to observe the blessings of democracy: over a million deaths of their Iraqi neighbors and the destruction of that once prosperous nation. At the heart of the public outcry is opposition to the US occupation of Iraq – a perspective shared by the great majority of the world's population, including the American people. Anti-war sentiment in the US is greater than at any time in recent history. Opposition to the war is so great that a Zogby International/ Le Moyne College poll recently found that only 23 per cent of US troops believed that the occupation should continue. 72 per cent said that the US should either pull out immediately or withdraw within 12 months. The arrogant policies of the US government continue to unite the world's working people as never before – there is a deepening global resistance to the occupation. The banners may be in different languages, but they all say the same thing: US Out of Iraq. Anti-Arab Campaign In an attempt to bolster the diminishing support for their war, the Bush administration has consistently promoted anti-Arab sentiment. Not to be outdone by Republicans, liberal Democrats like Charles Schumer have led the opposition to granting port operation contracts to Dubai Port World (DPW) of the United Arab Emirates (UAE,) a thinly veiled, racist scare campaign. And, just when you think that no one could get any lower, there is always a Clinton that comes along. Senator Hillary Clinton has moved to the right of Bush in pandering to backward anti-Arab sentiments. The UAE had previously donated over a million dollars of support to Bill Clinton. The Clintons had returned the favor by providing their stamp of approval for a regime that keeps the vast majority of its people in virtual servitude - denied any form of citizenship or basic human rights. In her quest for personal advancement and to prove her loyalty to the oil corporations, Hillary Clinton has turned on her former UAE friends. But don't worry – it will all be forgotten later on. Along with the politicians, key religious leaders in the US have fueled the international anti-Muslim campaign. Reverend Franklin Graham — heir to the mantle of Billy Graham and spiritual advisor to President Bush -- publicly asserted, "The God of Islam is not the same God of the Christian or the Judeo- Christian faith. It is a different God, and I believe a very evil and a very wicked religion." Reverend Jerry Vines, former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, called Prophet Mohammed "a demon-possessed pedophile." These types of remarks have been echoed throughout Europe. Is it any wonder that anti-Islamic images are widespread? The Growth of Religious Fundamentalism At the heart of the racist campaign is the stereotyping of all Arabs as religious zealots. In reality, it is the policies of the US and other occupying forces, particularly Israel | |