People's Tribune June,2001 Online Edition Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit ****************************************************************** People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition) Vol. 28 No. 6/ June, 2001 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 http://www.lrna.org ****************************************************************** +----------------------------------------------------------------+ The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.lrna.org +----------------------------------------------------------------+ INDEX to the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO (Online Edition) Vol. 28 No. 6/ June, 2001 Editorial 1. WHY THE NEW COLD WAR? News and Features 2. GROWING POVERTY IS AMERICA'S SHAME -- HERE'S HOW WE CAN END IT 3. HOPE ON THE ROAD: THE CALIFORNIA FREEDOM BUS TOUR 4. STUDENTS TO MEET IN CHICAGO TO PLAN FIGHT AGAINST SWEATSHOPS 5. THE ENERGY CRISIS: THE SOUTHERN CONNECTION 6. CELEBRATE JUNETEENTH 7. IN MEMORIAM - ANN TURNER: A VALIANT FIGHTER AGAINST POVERTY 8. MINISTRY TO THE POOR FIGHTS FOR A NEW SOCIETY Spirit of the Revolution 9. NUEVA ESPERANZA -- NEW HOPE >From the League 10. LRNA 4TH NATIONAL CONVENTION: INTERVIEWS AND PROGRAM Announcements, Events, etc. 11. SPEAKERS FOR A NEW AMERICA PRESENTS WILLIAM H. WATKINS, PH.D. ****************************************************************** We encourage reproduction and use of all articles except those copyrighted. Please credit the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO. The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO depends on donations from its readers -- your generosity is appreciated. For free electronic subscription, send a message to majordomo@gocatgo.com with a message of: subscribe pt-dist For electronic subscription problems, e-mail pt-admin@noc.org. ****************************************************************** ****************************************************************** 1. EDITORIAL: WHY THE NEW COLD WAR? The answer lies in the dangerous, heartless logic of a system fighting to survive. America, and the entire capitalist world, is entering a devastating depression. The role of George W. Bush, the chief executive officer of the system, is to protect the interests of the capitalist class. There are only two ways out. One is to place greater and greater sectors of the economy into the hands of the public. Then production for use instead of profit would avoid a depression. The other road is to place more and more of the public's money into corporate hands, to increase profits in hopes that the big capitalists will weather the depression. The ruling class has predictably chosen the latter. To carry this out, they create the danger of war to panic the people into surrendering their rights and their money to the corporations in "the national interest." We are seeing the results of this shameful policy. The government intends to increase money for weapons by 42 percent over the next seven years. The billionaire investors are rushing to buy up defense contractors' stock. This stock will rise 15 percent this year. For every $1 million they invest today, they will reap a profit of $150,000 next year. Translate that into the trillions and you have some idea of why the emphasis on a new Cold War. This banditry requires an increase in the transfer of money from the millions already poor into the pockets of the corporate gentry. The typical family is working six extra weeks per year just to economically stay even with 1992. Our children have become sacrificial lambs to corporate greed. Four million children under the age of 12 are hungry every day. Another 10 million are at risk. Ten out of every 1,000 American children die before their fifth birthday, the highest of any developed country. On any given night, 2 million Americans are in the street with no place to lay their heads. Thirty-six percent of them are families with children. Seven percent are children with no one to care for them. Americans know of the problem, but they do not understand it. Ninety percent of the people believe hunger to be a real and growing problem. They do not know what to do about it. The revolutionaries must intensify the simple message that so long as the corporations control our food and shelter, we are their slaves. If we are to defend and implement our cherished visions of a government of, by and for the people, we must first transform the brutal, selfish private power of the corporations into a cooperative power of the people. ****************************************************************** 2. GROWING POVERTY IS AMERICA'S SHAME -- HERE'S HOW WE CAN END IT An Oregon welfare agency recently handed out a circular to poor women telling them that, to save money, they should "check the dump and residential/business dumpsters" to find things they need. Does this include food, we wonder? Why are we going along with this type of inhumane treatment? Why is it that Americans don't rise up when they find out that poor women are being treated this way? Is it because we're being taught that the poor are poor because of their own "personal failings"? We have been taught from generation to generation to hide poverty, just like a dirty pair of underwear. Everyone who has gone through hard times knows that poverty is not something you talk about. It's considered shameful. Yet, Americans are worried about poverty. People are finding themselves without enough money for rent, transportation, medical bills, and food. Some say the poor are lazy and that's why they're poor. A new survey by National Public Radio, the Kaiser Family Foundation, and Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government contradicts this lie. In fact, it found that most low-income people reported that they do work. So, if we're not only working, but also working more hours and more days, why is poverty growing in America? People give various answers to this question. The main causes of poverty given by those polled were: drug abuse, medical bills, too few jobs (or too many part-time or low-wage jobs), too many single-parent families, and too many immigrants. About half of the public says the poor are not doing enough to help themselves out of poverty and that they have it too easy, and the other half says that circumstances beyond their control cause them to be poor. Yet what are the real causes of poverty? Contrary to what we have been told, being poor has nothing to do with us, the poor, working or not. It has to do more with the functions of an economic system, which is called capitalism. The law of maximum profit governs capitalism. It is this law of maximum profit that determines our economy and consequently the number of jobs. The growth of poverty has nothing to do with whether people are doing enough to help themselves out of poverty. In fact, poverty is ingrained into the workings of the capitalist system. Under capitalism, there are two classes. One class is those who have to work for a living (which, by the way, is the majority of Americans) -- whether we are employed or unemployed, whether working in a factory, as a janitor, a computer programmer, a secretary or, yes, collecting cans and selling newspapers. Then there are those who have appropriated the means of production -- the factories, the mines, the land, high technology, etc. -- for their own personal wealth. (This is the minority in America.) The solution to poverty in America lies in finding and implementing a totally new economic system: one that will put life and humanity first and profits second; one that will work for the majority and not just for the minority. But to get there, Americans first have to choose sides. Do they see their future tied to the growing number of poor, or are they going to remain on the side of those who exploit and steal the fruit of our labor? Our answer is that you should be on the side of the growing class of poor, because though you might not be poor today, the direction the economy is taking is to boot more and more workers onto the unemployment lines. The League of Revolutionaries for a New America is an organization of revolutionaries from all walks of life who have chosen sides. We know that the future of society -- both economically and spiritually --lies in fighting for the needs of those among us who have the least. We have come to the realization that poverty is not a crime, capitalism is. We're organized to take this understanding to the American people. If you want to be part of this organized effort, please join us. ****************************************************************** 3. HOPE ON THE ROAD: THE CALIFORNIA FREEDOM BUS TOUR [Editor's note: Ethel Long-Scott is the director of the Women's Economic Agenda Project, based in Oakland, California. She was interviewed by People's Tribune Radio's Bay area correspondent, Steve Miller.] PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE RADIO: What are some of the new problems that you've seen since the enactment of so-called welfare reform? ETHEL LONG-SCOTT: The issue of poverty in America -- really in the globe -- is the determining factor for whether women's status is improving or regressing. We look at our country right now and see that the position of the most destitute and disenfranchised women -- the homeless women, the women who are on some form of public assistance, be it your Auntie or your grandmother who has worked her whole life and is living on a meager existence of Social Security or might be disabled now -- is showing us a grim picture. Look at the impact of TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families). It has spelled the destruction of huge numbers of families. Led by former President Clinton and hand crafted by both Democrats and Republicans, this piece of legislation was essentially an effort to change how human services are conducted, to push the poor off the rolls and, if need be, into the streets (and we know that a good third of our sisters and brothers are now on the streets). Their measure of success was never to get people out of poverty but to get people off the rolls. And they've done that. In California, the minimum wage is $5.75. You can hardly live any place in our state on that. You can hardly feed yourself and your family unless you're working a couple of these minimum- wage jobs. The working poor cycle on and off public assistance and because it's become so punitive there is pressure to take any job. People are faced with the position of either taking that job or starving. So we're in an extraordinarily difficult position. We can measure that on the backs of the poorest women and children in our country. PTR: The increasing number of women in poverty also raises new questions for the women's movement and redefines that agenda, doesn't it? ELS: The contemporary women's movement, which started in the 1960s, was defined by trying to get into the system of capitalism. This primarily benefited the more-affluent women. We didn't have political representation on the status of working women except for in a few places. What is different today is that the position of working women -- whether they happen to be unemployed, on public assistance, or cycling on and off that public assistance -- is defining the status of all women. That working women are putting forth the primary issues that will help them create lives of dignity for all families, that they are crafting that and leading that, has really raised the bar as far as the measure of success and advancement. PTR: Tell us what the California Freedom Bus tour was all about. ELS: We did the Freedom tour in the light of the work done by the Philadelphia Kensington Welfare Rights Union and in the tradition of the old Freedom Bus rides that protested racial segregation in America. In this instance, it was to protest economic segregation and poverty, to highlight it and to document it. We travelled almost 3,000 miles, from the tip of the Oregon border as far south as San Diego and Los Angeles, visiting all kinds of small towns and cities in between. Every step along the way we found the same pattern of significant poverty. We saw the real hardened misery of our people, whether it be in Chico, Redding or Red Bluff -- these are in primarily white counties where there's supposedly no poverty. They've been poor a long time as the industries have downsized and there's been significant displacement. It was not as concentrated as in our inner cities, but the dislocation between the labor force and affordable housing is pushing more workers onto the streets and into missions to feed their families. This story isn't being told. PTR: Was your objective with the tour simply to observe the poverty or to take a different message? ELS: We were on a mission to document and protest the growing poverty and inequity in our state, but we were also bringing a message of hope. We wanted to teach about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, articles 23, 25, 26. More than 50 years ago our country, along with all the other nations, signed a declaration that human beings were entitled to certain rights: the right to health care, education, to jobs that provide culture and an opportunity to advance as human beings. These are really important things to reframe the debate. We also were intent on teaching workers that we have a worker's party in our country. It's called the Labor Party. It has a phenomenal economic justice agenda. Its about framing what do we, as working people, need to do to have a better reality now and a better future for our children. The Women's Economic Agenda Project is an affiliate of the Labor Party. We wanted to show the kind of powerful efforts that are developing through the Labor Party's Just Health Care campaign. This country spends billions of dollars on health care, but to get it you either need a job or have to spend down and be in abject poverty. There are huge numbers of workers, 44 million at least, that have no health care at all. So we went out with our T-shirts and our 40 organizers strong, which included about eight children. More than half of the people on our bus were either homeless or had been homeless. We took the message that if we are going to have a different reality then we're going to have to fight for it. PTR: You had a large number of African Americans on your bus when you left for your tour. You went to parts of California where there are very few African Americans. Did the color issue make any difference and did you find that white workers feel differently about poverty than black workers or urban workers? ELS: When we left Oakland, we wanted the bus to be as integrated as possible. Like many of the inner cities, we are multiracial but primarily African American. Our expressed effort was to link up with others who are fighting to eliminate poverty. We stayed at shelters, or churches or community centers. When we talked to some of the brothers and sisters that were white, we learned that a lot of them had been taught, just as we have been miseducated, that their poverty is their own individual fault. They felt very isolated, a lot of shame. Everybody in poverty has a lot of shame, everybody believes they have caused that. So we were able to learn. Some of our people who didn't believe that whites were in poverty could see that this was different. This is a huge state -- one thousand miles long, 35 million people in it -- and the enemy has found about a million ways to pit us against one another. So it's a big step to have brothers and sisters from different backgrounds say: "Look we may have come to this place in different ways, but we are facing the same situation. We have to begin to develop strategies to fight for our lives." That's what the Just Health Care campaign and the Labor Party represents for us. That's the strategy that the Economic Human Rights campaign presents, the opportunity for working people to craft what we want. PTR: What did you leave behind in the communities you visited? ELS: We started out with a mission like the old abolitionist movement. They wouldn't leave a town until they got their converts. Out of the 20 towns we visited, 17 poor people's Economic Human Rights committees were established. These are working committees. They will help recruit more monitors of economic human rights violations in their towns. That helps to document the violations, but also to coordinate protests against poverty. Also, they will help to conduct future teach-ins on the Just Health Care campaign and to inform themselves about the broader agenda of the Labor Party. So we are looking forward to a coordinated and sustained battle for economic human rights in our state and country. PTR: Your message is very different from the traditional message about poverty that the shelter providers and service providers give. ELS: It is. We need to reject this notion of simply begging for pity to the powers that be. We need to reject this notion of managing poverty. It's killing people. We don't need to be a part of the process of killing people. We need to be a part of the process of fighting for the rich possibilities. Society has the technological advances for the first time in human history to eradicate poverty. We've got to get that in our vocabulary! We can eliminate poverty. We need to fight for that as a goal as opposed to alleviating it so a few people can make their money on the misery of our people. Most people who are in this work are there to make a difference. We're all trying to find the ways to change things, but we have to change our sense that it can be done through incremental change. We need a radical restructuring and reorganization of society to meet the needs of our people. There is some hard work ahead of us. We found that it is so much easier for people to talk about coalitions, to do the single-issue thing. This bigger thing that the Labor Party has laid out of economic justice, that's a harder thing to do. But it is so much more unifying, so much more inclusive and it deals with our problems from a much more comprehensive point of view. We found a real readiness for that kind of strategy. PTR: It sounds like you're presenting a different vision of what America could be. ELS: We found that the question of vision was very important. People know things have changed. They know that computers are in our lives in these different ways. Unfortunately, the first impact is that they've been downsized out of work. That's real. But we need to look at how these tools can be and are being used to eradicate illnesses that we've been plagued with since the dawn of time, how they can facilitate our ability to explore the heavens in a more extensive way, how they can have an impact on extending our knowledge in all fields and to link up the globe in a wholly different way. But the tools have to be in our hands with the express sense of purpose to leave no family behind, to render as a part of the dustbin of history the battering and abuse and violence that poverty generates and facilitates, not only in our country, but across the globe. We can have a world where young girls can grow up with the sense of what is possible and where they can contribute on so many levels as opposed to first trying to figure out how can they eat, can they not have to sell their bodies in order to have a warm place to lay their heads for a day at a time. It really is a different kind of vision. I think it's a sense that we're at a very important juncture for our state and our country and that what we do makes a difference, it really makes a difference. [You can reach the Women's Economic Agenda Project at 510-451- 7379. To read more about their activities and the Freedom Bus tour, visit www.weap.org. To learn about the Labor Party, visit www.igc.org/lpa. Here PT Radio programs from the League website at http://www.lrna.org] ****************************************************************** 4. STUDENTS TO MEET IN CHICAGO TO PLAN FIGHT AGAINST SWEATSHOPS CHICAGO -- An important student-labor conference will take place here this summer to plan the next steps in the fight against sweatshops. >From August 2-5, the United Students Against Sweatshops will hold its national summer conference at Loyola University on the city's North Side. The United Students Against Sweatshops is an organization of 200 campuses working on a national campaign to stop sweatshops. The group focuses on using its power as students to support issues of economic and social justice -- on their campuses, in their cities, and globally. The group formed in July 1998 as a loose coalition of students from campus groups working on the demonstrations, sit-ins and vigils which had begun to sweep campuses as a new generation of student activists strove to raise awareness about sweatshops and the role that universities play in perpetuating them. United Students Against Sweatshops works to facilitate communication and coordination among the campus groups working on the campaign; to give students a unified voice in taking on national targets; and to provide a national network and base. The People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo welcomes the USAS national summer conference and urges our readers to help publicize it in whatever ways they can. [For more information about the conference, contact the national office of the United Students Against Sweatshops, 1015 18th St. NW, 9th floor, Washington, D.C. 20005; or call USAS at 202-NO-SWEAT; or visit the USAS Web site at http://www.usanet.org.] ****************************************************************** 5. THE ENERGY CRISIS: THE SOUTHERN CONNECTION By John Slaughter Like a menacing ghost, the poisonous fog wafts it way through the Georgia pines, decimating the lungs of millions of Atlanta citizens. The source? The Southern Company, the parent company of Georgia Power, as well as of Alabama, Mississippi and Gulf Power. Atlanta has now surpassed Los Angeles as the number one city in the country for air pollution. Every summer now there are increasing numbers of red-alert days, when the air is so bad that children are cautioned not to play outside. Strenuous exercise, whether from work or play, is discouraged. Respiratory diseases are on the increase. While the focus has been on automobile emissions, a coalition of environmental groups says that the Southern Company emits as much carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide and mercury into the air in one year as 17 million cars. No other company is more polluting, and no other company fights harder to resist changing its power-generation methods to produce energy that is cleaner and more environmentally friendly. The Southern Company has advised its shareholders to vote against a green power initiative by Robert Mills of Washington that would increase the company's reliance upon solar and wind power to 20 percent during the next 20 years. Southern now relies upon solar and wind power for less than 1 percent of its total power generation. The reason the Southern Company is so persistent in continuing to produce dirty energy is simple: greed and the insatiable thirst for more and bigger profits. The Southern Company had profits of over $100 million last year, and expects to double that in the next five years. And now for the rest of the story. Southern power is coming to you, too. (As California well knows.) Only you won't know it as the Southern Company any more. In April, the Southern Company spun off its "global" operation and created a new company, known as Mirant. Mirant is one of the five energy-producing companies, known lovingly in California as the "confederate cartel," that are based in the South. The others are Dynegy and Reliant out of Houston, Duke in Charlotte, N.C., and Williams, which is based in Tulsa, Okla. Mirant also has holdings in Britain, Germany, South America and Hong Kong. Mirant has been described as a major player in the California energy crisis, and along with the others in the cartel, is accused of deliberately shutting down plants to create a power shortage and drive up prices. And the facts are hard to deny. While demand has actually increased only 4 percent since 1999, prices have shot up 428 percent, resulting in overcharges of $555 million. While Mirant and the others face charges of the "illegal manipulation of the California energy crisis," their profit margin continues to escalate. Mirant led a market rally on Wall Street on April 26 after it reported that its net income had risen 84 percent during the first quarter, due largely to "a sharp increase in profits from its North American energy trading operations." The energy crisis that we are enduring is the direct result of one of the basic principles of the capitalist system itself: Maximize profits above all else. Deregulation is only another word for privatization, and privatization means unleashing private companies to push for profits over people. Energy is a basic resource that every human being must have to survive in this society, and as such, access to it is a fundamental human right. "Power to the people" takes on a new meaning. The production and distribution of energy should be taken out of private hands and made available to the whole of society. The current crisis proves that production driven by greed is self-destructive. It is time for the people to take the power. ****************************************************************** 6. CELEBRATE JUNETEENTH On June 19, 1862 the U.S. Congress approved a resolution prohibiting slavery in the territories governed by the United States. This act was the first step toward the Emancipation Proclamation of January 1863. The Proclamation freed all slaves held in states still in rebellion against the federal government. The Proclamation expropriated some $4 billion dollars of property and transferred it to the ex-slaves themselves. The next step was the abolition of slavery throughout the country by the passage of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. Today, June 19, "June 'Teenth," is celebrated as the beginnings of a new America. The declaration expressed the enormous power of the federal government to deal with crisis. Since that time, this power has been used to nationalize railroads, put people in jails and concentration camps, break strikes, and deal with national catastrophes and social crises. This year, as we celebrate the first step toward ending the misery of human slavery, we call upon the government to use this enormous power to end the continuing human misery caused by homelessness and poverty. Just as slavery seemed to be no crisis for the master class, poverty today seems to be no crisis for the wealthy who have created and prospered from it. It is a crisis for the millions living in the streets. It is a crisis for the millions of children who go to bed hungry each night. It is a crisis for the millions who daily search for work that no longer exists. This crisis does not make sense. There are more vacant buildings than there are homeless people. Why doesn't the government use its power to move the people in? There is so much food that daily, tons are buried or burned. Why doesn't the government use its power to distribute that food to the needy? When production is carried on without the worker, why doesn't the government use its power to distribute that production according to need? It took a civil war to end the horror of slavery. Why should it take another to end the horror of senseless poverty? Does anyone in our government think, or read history books? ****************************************************************** 7. IN MEMORIAM - ANN TURNER: A VALIANT FIGHTER AGAINST POVERTY May 25, 2001 Dear Friends, It is with profound sorrow that we write to let you know that our dear friend and comrade Ann Turner passed away yesterday. Ann fought valiantly for her life in recent years against the ravages of poverty, homelessness, and a heartless for-profit medical system. Ann's friends knew she battled frequently with depression and despair, yet they also saw her pull herself together when she was called to step forward in the fight for a just and humane society. During those times her warmth, humor, and enthusiasm were an inspiration to all of us. Above all, Ann symbolized a vision. It was one she spoke of frequently: a world where there was no hunger, where no children were homeless, and where the enormous wealth of our society was shared equally, so that none were needy. Ann dedicated the final years of her life to speaking, demonstrating, and even getting arrested in the fight for that vision. We do not know now which of her many ailments Ann died from. She had multiple brain surgeries that never completely succeeded in eradicating the tumor there. She also suffered from chronic heart and breathing disorders. We do know that, because she was poor, she never received the kind of medical treatment she needed and deserved. In her final months, when her doctor prescribed round- the-clock oxygen treatment, MediCal refused to pay for more than five hours a day. We also know that all of her health problems were aggravated by homelessness. Evicted from a trailer park in the summer of 1999, she subsisted in a harsh homeless shelter for a year and a half before finally getting accepted into a small SRO apartment earlier this year. It is ironic --- and makes us angry -- that by then her health had already deteriorated so much that she could not enjoy the experience of having a home again. About the same time, earlier this year, she was appointed to the Housing Advisory Commission of the City of San Jose. Her final political action was to help convince that commission to endorse the ultimately victorious proposal to allocate 30 percent of housing funds to ELI (extremely low-income) families. More than to anyone else, the credit and honor for that victory deserves to go to Ann Turner. May God keep and protect her precious spirit, a spirit that lives on in our hearts as surely as if she were sitting here next to us. She is survived by her husband Elbert and her sons Thurman and Steve. Sandy Perry for CHAM ****************************************************************** 8. MINISTRY TO THE POOR FIGHTS FOR A NEW SOCIETY By Bob Lee [Editor's note: The People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo recently interviewed Rev. Bruce Wright, who operates The Refuge, a ministry to the poor in St. Petersburg, Florida, and Ozell Johnson, who came to The Refuge as a teenager and now works with Rev. Wright. Johnson and Rev. Wright were interviewed when they attended the national convention of the League of Revolutionaries for a New America (LRNA), which was held in April in Chicago. LRNA publishes the People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo. The Refuge has existed for eight years, although Rev. Wright, 40, has been working with inner-city youth since 1983. ] PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO: Tell me about The Refuge. Rev. Wright: The Refuge is basically a church. The intent is for it to be a church of the poor, the homeless and the counter- culture youth. It's not traditional except for some theological things that are the essence of what Christianity is about -- a cooperative society. We're involved in issues of social justice -- meeting people's practical needs, speaking up for the rights of the oppressed. This has got us the most flak. There are a lot of social-service agencies that want to "fix" the poor, but they don't want to empower the poor. We have amazing cross- denominational, cross-racial support among the other churches. The working poor and homeless I work with have a strong religious and heartfelt belief. It's hard for them to express that in relation to the oppression they felt in the traditional churches. We'll be doing public access TV and radio. We're looking at Internet radio and TV. We already have a music show on the Internet. The music show has a lot of politically conscious music, and excerpts of interviews with people regarding revolutionary thought. The goal is to encourage young people in revolutionary thought, move them in that direction. We're a Christian organization that looks like a bunch of anarchist youth, works with the homeless, has punk shows and yet has a church service on Sunday. PT/TP: What attracted you to the LRNA? REV. WRIGHT: The local community radio carried People's Tribune Radio, and we contacted the League. In the League's program there is a strong inclusion of the word "spiritual." I've always believed the idea of a cooperative society is compatible with Christian beliefs. It's the essence of what the church was intended to be. The League's philosophy is inclusive of a cooperative society that realizes that spirituality is a necessary part of it. It fit the bill for what I was looking for. The multicultural aspect of the League is also attractive. The class consciousness of the League is the cornerstone to my involvement. The right wing and American capitalism are synonymous with Christianity in America. But true Christianity is completely incompatible with capitalism. Jesus said you can't serve two masters -- God and Mammon. The key to getting "Bible believers" is showing them from the Bible itself that they believe the opposite of what Jesus taught. That's what I try to show in church -- that the real Satan is capital, money. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ Ozell Johnson, 24, encountered The Refuge about seven years ago when he began coming to the punk rock music shows that The Refuge puts on. He is himself a musician and a poet. "I'm a freedom fighter, a revolutionary," he says. "I'm challenged by a system that wants to eradicate me. I'm young. People think because I'm young I'm ignorant, but I'm not. I want to live. I want to love. Revolution is about love." PT/TP: What attracted you to the LRNA? OZ: Basically the same thing as Bruce. I want social change. The youth of today are different from the youth of 30 or 40 years ago. Most young people today don't have much respect for adults. I do. It's because of our culture. People have grown up in abusive relationships; some have been sexually molested. The League, as open as it is, is really appealing to me. Revolution is love; love is revolution. People in the streets are dying; young women are prostituting. [I was attracted to the League by] its policies, and the fact that it's pretty much diverse. It reminds me of a mom -- there's a sense of nurturing and caring. Our government for the longest time, did not value women. The fact that there are a lot of women in the League speaks for itself. Being part of the League will help us. We've totally re-energized our batteries and we're going to be ready. Revolution is going to happen and I want to be ready. I don't want my life to be controlled by people who don't know anything about what it means to be young and poor in America. Organizations like the League and The Refuge stand for all people. That's what I hope for, is an equal society. When there is no need for a Refuge -- that's what I'm fighting for. I want a society where I don't have to fight every day. Jesus was a revolutionary. We need to be at that level. It's not how much money you can raise to build a bigger church; it's in here (in the heart). ****************************************************************** 9. SPIRIT OF THE REVOLUTION: NUEVA ESPERANZA -- NEW HOPE by Leah Arnold My older sister, Lynnette, spent the summer of 2000 in El Salvador. So after earthquakes rocked the country this January and February, Lynnette was worried for the safety of the people she had grown to love. She and I, with the 31 other members of our Spring Valley Bruderhof youth group, immediately wanted to help. The idea of a work brigade was born, and we went into action collecting donations. The responses to our letters ranged from medical supplies to candy to wheelbarrows. At last we were ready to fly out of wintry Pennsylvania into tropical El Salvador. We based ourselves in Neuva Esperanza ("New Hope"), a rural cooperative 45 miles from San Salvador. Our main project while there was to construct two bridges that the Salvadorans had asked us to build. They were designed to give war-wounded veterans access to their crop-producing fields. The work was hard but done in the typically relaxed Salvadoran style. We had to learn to operate without modern benefits like cement mixers. After about 80 tons of concrete, we became experts at mixing cement by hand. Dump trucks were another nonexistent commodity, and the 70 truckloads of dirt needed for each bridge had to be removed from the flatbeds by hand. We began to understand the fun and challenge of hard physical labor in primitive conditions. However, our trip included much more than work. Spending time talking with our newly made friends, and learning from them was a major part of our experience. We chatted with former guerrillas who had fought in El Salvador's civil war between 1980 and 1992. They showed us their wounds and sang songs of the war for us. Marvin was only 13 when he joined the guerrilla fighters. One of his fellow combatants, an 11-year-old, was smaller than his weapon. Others, like Ismael, had participated in the early organization of this liberation movement. Pedro and Tono had been involved with the radio broadcasts, and enthusiastically performed numbers from their varied repertoire. We also spoke with the teenagers, trying to imagine ourselves growing up without everyday comforts like running water and electricity. Yet these youth were incredibly aware of their country's problems, and very motivated to improve their situation. They considered themselves lucky to have the privileges of high school education, housing, land to farm, and enough food to live healthily. Many Salvadorans cannot claim to possess these things. In addition, we found that the legacy of those who had died in El Salvador had just as much to teach us. The site of the Santa Tecla landslide, once crowded with houses, was a bare stretch of sun- baked dirt. During the January earthquake, hundreds of tons of mud had buried the area, killing over 470 people. A small bunch of wilted flowers lay where a family had died, and two women who had seen the tragedy told how some witnesses had died from shock. This desolate scene was a hard-hitting shove that started us on the way to appreciating our friends and family much more. Oscar Romero, Archbishop of El Salvador from 1977 to 1980, was shot because of his stand for justice and against oppression. The serenity that pervaded his house and the nearby chapel in which he was murdered, attested to the reality of his ongoing presence in the minds and hearts of Salvadorans. At the edge of the University of Central America, we visited the home of six Jesuit priests who were brutally murdered in 1989. As we stood around the rose garden, one bush for each of the deceased, I tried to comprehend the cruelty and evil that had driven one human to so completely desecrate another. And yet, this is the history of El Salvador: extreme depths of hate and greed constantly attempting to repress the ever-resurgent hope and determination for life at the core of Salvadorans. By the time we walked back into the San Salvador Airport, our minds were more expansive and our hearts much broader than when we arrived. We had learned how to relax and enjoy life and how to appreciate others more fully. Ultimately, we had been taught not only to build bridges of hand-mixed concrete, but bridges of friendship, solidarity, and hope as well. [Leah Arnold is a member of Spring Valley Bruderhof and is 16 years old.] ****************************************************************** 10. LRNA 4TH NATIONAL CONVENTION: INTERVIEWS and PROGRAM +----------------------------------------------------------------+ INTERVIEWS On April 21-22, 2001 the League of Revolutionaries for a New America held its 4th National Convention in Chicago. On these pages we present the Program that was approved by the delegates, as well as a speech given by Nelson Peery and photos and quotes from delegates and observers. ANDRE DAWKINS is a volunteer with the Women's Economic Agenda Project. He is also the co-chair of the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, and a member of the Labor Party. He is from the north Oakland chapter of the League. "It gave me the reassurance that people like myself believe in the same thing. They believe that a new America can exist. So, I'm eager to get started. I got a lot of good information." XAVIER is from the Inland Empire in California. Xavier is a member of the LRNA and is a professional student. "It's a great convention and there's real democracy, not just arm- chair revolutionaries. Everybody that is here is actually doing something and that's great." JOSE SILVA is from Chicago and was a guest at the convention. He is a factory worker and the president of a union local. "I think it's pretty good. It's something new and more of a broad, long-term vision of what America should be." [Interviews done by Alma Ramirez, Tim Metzger and Bob Lee.] +----------------------------------------------------------------+ PROGRAM OF THE 4TH LRNA CONVENTION The world is entering an epoch of social revolution. Profound technological changes are giving society the means to create absolute abundance. But in a society based on private property, these changes bring greater wealth for the few and greater suffering and destruction for the many. A confrontation between the world's rich and the world's poor is gathering momentum. The future of humanity is at stake. Either society will remain at the mercy of private property, intensifying the ruin of our resources and capacities, or it will be reorganized so the plenitude science makes possible ensures the material, intellectual, cultural, and spiritual growth of everyone. The power to determine the outcome is in our hands. The League of Revolutionaries for a New America aims to unite the strivings of the people against injustice with the consciousness needed to guarantee the outcome that is in the interests of all humanity. The League stands for a cooperative society that nurtures the peaceful, equal, and full development of all people. This vision can only become reality when society rallies and reorganizes around the program of those whose needs the capitalist system cannot meet. We fight for the broadest possible class unity, where all see their fate resting on the interests of those who have the least. We fight to introduce a class perspective into every conflict and activity. We fight for a class party to secure this unity and perspective. We challenge the ruling class on the immorality of its ruthless devastation of the earth and human life. We trace every injustice to the capitalist system. We show how every problem can be solved when society is reorganized along cooperative lines. League members educate on the radio and television, through the printed and electronic word, in places of worship and union halls, on campuses and on the street. We aim to engage and open up the imaginations of millions for a new America. To all who see the dangers of today and the need to chart a new course for our country, let us join our efforts to educate, invigorate, and unleash a powerful movement that can deliver the promises of tomorrow. ****************************************************************** 11. SPEAKERS FOR A NEW AMERICA PRESENTS WILLIAM H. WATKINS, PH.D. Our educational system is in crisis for a number of reasons: overcrowded classrooms, outdated resources and materials, inadequate buildings, lack of money, and more. President Bush has declared "no child left behind," yet his answer is to increase testing by 50 percent, which in no way addresses the above concerns that parents and teachers face every day in the classroom. This month, Speakers for a New America offers William H. Watkins, Ph.D., a major scholar and theoretician in the field of education. He can address many of the issues and controversies surrounding the education of our children today. William H. Watkins is a leading educator and the author of a new book, "The White Architects of Black Education: Ideology and Power in America, 1865-1954." He is also lead editor of "Race and Education: The Roles of History and Society in Educating African American Students," and he has published many articles, chapters and papers. William H. Watkins was born in Harlem, New York, and grew up in South Central Los Angeles, California. His years fighting for social justice and freedom, coupled with his trailblazing research, writing and critique of education in the United States, informs audiences in an unforgettable, no-holds-barred manner. Professor Watkins captivates us and challenges long-standing beliefs about the system of education in the U.S. His research and writings are rich and provocative, guiding us through the historical underpinnings of contemporary education. To bring William H. Watkins to your community, call 1-800-691-6888 or e-mail speakers@noc.org. Visit our Web page at http://www.lrna.org/speakers. ****************************************************************** ABOUT THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE, published every two weeks in Chicago, is devoted to the proposition that an economic system which can't or won't feed, clothe and house its people ought to be and will be changed. To that end, this paper is a tribune of the people. It is the voice of the millions struggling for survival. It strives to educate politically those millions on the basis of their own experience. It is a tribune to bring them together, to create a vision of a better world, and a strategy to achieve it. Join us! Editor: Laura Garcia Publisher: League of Revolutionaries for a New America, P.O. Box 477113, Chicago, IL 60647 (312) 486-0028 ISSN# 1081-4787 For free electronic subscription, email: pt.dist-request@noc.org To help support the production and distribution of the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE, please send donations, letters, articles, photos, graphics and requests for information, subscriptions and requests for bundles of papers to: PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE P.O. Box 3524 Chicago, IL 60654 pt@noc.org GETTING THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE IN PRINT The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE is available at many locations nationwide. One year subscriptions $20 ($50 institutions), bulk orders of 10 or more 15 cents each, single copies 25 cents. Contact PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE, P. O. Box 3524, Chicago, Illinois 60654, tel. (312) 486- 3551. WRITING FOR THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE We want your story in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE. Send it in! Articles should be shorter than 300 words, written to be easily understood, and signed. (Use a pen name if you prefer.) Include a phone number for questions. Contact PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE, P. O. 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