People's Tribune (11-97) Online/2 of 2 ****************************************************************** People's Tribune (Online Edition) Vol. 24 No. 11/ November, 1997 P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654 Email: pt@noc.org ****************************************************************** Part 2/continued from Part 1 17. TAKING 'THE NEXT STEP': ORGANIZING SCHOOL MOBILIZES LEADERS OF POOR AND HOMELESS On September 5-7, the People's Tribune attended "The Next Step," an organizing school taught by poor and homeless leaders and sponsored by the Philadelphia-based Kensington Welfare Rights Union. The Next Step teaches the model of the poor organizing the poor to build a movement to end poverty. The school began the process of mapping out plans for a national campaign, to be kicked off December 10, to document violations of people's economic human rights and present this documentation to the United Nations. Below are excerpts of interviews with some of the participants. We asked them what the campaign symbolizes and also about their vision of a new society. Joy Butts, a member of the KWRU board of directors, heads the Poor People's Embassy in Harrisburg, representing the concerns of poor and homeless families in Harrisburg and at the United Nations. She will go to Geneva, Switzerland as an intern to pursue human rights work in 1998. Joy: "Until poor people understand that the reason they are in this situation is because of class, not race or gender, and that it is the economic system, there won't be any changes. The Economic Human Rights Campaign is a way of people becoming educated. We need to make people aware of their human rights and then start to address some of the problems that will change the country. In a new society, the country will be more open to new ways of education, of people coming together, learning from each other and sharing experience. So I see the campaign as an awakening in the mind, of people waking up." Dottie Stevens, vice president of the National Welfare Rights Union, is known as the "Mother of Welfare Rights." As an independent candidate for governor in Massachusetts, she ran on a platform to elect the victims of poverty to political office so that people could be educated about their class interests. Dottie: "I feel very encouraged. More people realize they are us and that they can be in this situation when they least expect it. So they in turn are organizing. And younger and younger people are joining our movement because of the future they see of no real jobs and pensions like we were raised to expect. Today, they're literally on their own. As I read the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it says everyone should have a guaranteed annual income, housing, food, clothing and medical care. Imagine if those needs are taken care of. With the talent we have in this country, we could fulfill our potential, and only imagine what we could turn this world into." Devaki Leon is a nursing student, welfare recipient, single mom, and a member of the Tri-County Chapters of the KWRU. Devaki: "My main concern is to see that my community gets its needs met. It's a basic human right that people have a right to education and the freedom to work. Without transportation, where I live, no one can get to work or get the children to school, so poor people where I live don't have school for their children. I believe a lot of people will take this campaign and I am hoping it will awaken people." Patty Loff is a recent graduate with a degree in social work. Patty: "The conference was a great next step, for me. We're building a lot more leaders in the poor people movement and this laid an excellent foundation to go forward. A new society would have to include equity for all with no one in need of anything. I think it is possible, but will take a long time. But as long as people are committed to being a spoke in the wheel as opposed to expecting to get it all done themselves maybe someday it will happen." +----------------------------------------------------------------+ EXCERPTS FROM THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS Article 23. (1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment. (2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work. (3) Everyone has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection. ... Article 25. (1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control. (2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection. ... Article 26. (1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ****************************************************************** 18. THE LEAGUE OF REVOLUTIONARIES FOR A NEW AMERICA: WHAT WE ARE AND WHY The League is an organization of revolutionaries. * We are people from all walks of life, with various ideals and ideologies. * We are organized to awaken the American people to their growing poverty and the threat of a fascist police state. A police state is a society controlled by police forces who are above the law and responsible to no one but themselves. * We are organized to bring the people a vision of a peaceful, prosperous, orderly world made possible by the very automation and economic globalization which, in the hands of capitalists, threatens our existence. In a word, the League of Revolutionaries for a New America educates and fights for the transfer of economic and political power into the hands of the people so they can build a democratic, cooperative, communal society. HERE IS WHY -- Rapidly expanding automation is doing away with most human work and will pauperize the humans doing the work that remains. Capitalism has no use for and will not care for human labor when robotics is more profitable. Consequently, the growing mass of permanently unemployed people are sinking deeper and deeper into poverty. A huge global movement of the destitute is getting underway. The demand for the essentials of a decent life and no money to pay for them marks it as the world's first revolutionary mass movement for communism. (The American Heritage Dictionary defines "communism" as "a social system characterized by the common ownership of the means of production and subsistence and by the organization of labor for the common advantage of all members.") This developing movement needs to understand its historic mission and how to achieve it. The No. 1 need of the revolution is for an organization of teachers, of propagandists who will bring it clarity. Only then can the people of this country save themselves from the threat of a new world order of poverty and oppression. The League of Revolutionaries for a New America has been formed to carry out that task. Historically, a revolution in the economy makes a revolution in society inevitable. We must prepare for it. If you agree with this perspective, let's get it together -- our collective experience, intelligence and commitment can change America and the world. Collectivize with us. +----------------------------------------------------------------+ I WANT TO JOIN! ____ I want to join the LRNA. Please send information. ____ Enclosed is my donation of $_____ +----------------------------------------------------------------+ I want to subscribe! ____ People's Tribune. $2 for four issues or $25 for a year. ____ Tribuno del Pueblo. $2 for four issues or $10 for a year. (You can also get bundles of 10 or more copies of the PT or TP for 15 cents per copy.) Name Address City/State/Zip +----------------------------------------------------------------+ ****************************************************************** 19. SPEAKERS FOR A NEW AMERICA The People's Tribune Speakers Bureau represents speakers who are on every front of the battle against corporate rule and for a new America. The technology exists today to create a prosperous world for all. Call today to bring one of our exciting speakers to your city. Write P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, Illinois, 60654; e-mail: speakers@noc.org; call 773-486-3551; or visit our web page at www.mcs.com/~speakers/index.html. NELSON PEERY, author of "Black Fire: The Making of an American Revolutionary." LUIS RODRIGUEZ, the award-winning poet and author of "Always Running, La Vida Loca: Gang Days in Los Angeles." CHERI HONKALA, the leader of the 125-mile march of poor people to the United Nations to declare welfare "reform" a violation of human rights and to demand a living wage. JONATHAN KING, an internationally known molecular biologist and expert on the social implications of cloning who has long been concerned with developing science for human liberation, not profit. DOREEN STABINSKY, an assistant professor of environmental studies, who is an expert on energy, ecosystems, agriculture, pollution, economics, and the policymaking of corporations and international bodies. LIZ MONGE, an editor of the bilingual Tribuno del Pueblo, who has worked with urban peace networks of young people. ALBERTO 'BETO' SANDOVAL, editor of Germ, an underground zine for young people about the corruption of the educational system and everyday life. ABDUL ALKALIMAT, a professor of Africana studies and sociology who has made important contributions to the origins of the black studies movement and to technology and employment conferences. ****************************************************************** 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. 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