Libya Invasion Exposes Obama’s Turn to Fascism, Dogfight in U.S. Ruling Class

Centralization of power — military, political and economic — is a hallmark of fascism, the deadly necessary tool capitalists employ when they can no longer hide behind the façade of “democracy.” Obama’s Libya power grab reflects desperate efforts by the dominant — but embattled — imperialist wing of U.S. bosses to retain its grip on foreign policy. One aim of fascism is for the dominant capitalists — who must protect the long-range survival of their system — to discipline those bosses who are only out for immediate profits and disregard how negatively that might impact the system in the long run.

But Obama’s masters have a big problem. The U.S. is a big country, made up of many competing capitalists with competing interests. All employ politicians in Washington. The biggest bosses, such as the Rockefeller-bloc — owners of imperialist firms like Exxon, JP Morgan and GE — require the U.S. war machine to guard and help expand their far-flung operations. Liberal Democrats, including Obama, as well as a number of interventionist Republicans, serve them.

War-maker Obama Must Skirt Polarized, Partisan Congress

Seeking to turn part of the Arab Spring into a Khadafy-free oil free-for-all on behalf of Big Oil, U.S.-led NATO has conducted over 4,300 air strikes so far in Libya. One, on June 17, killed seven civilians. Yet Obama insists this bloodshed does not amount to “hostilities” under the War Powers Act and thus needs no Congressional consent.

Click to read more ...

Dallas Students Walk Out vs. Racist Cuts, Teacher Firing

DALLAS, June 15 — This year there has been an upswing in student and teacher activism against school cut-backs at a high school here. A combination of anger over the cuts plus talk with students about fighting back has sparked a militant spirit among many students and teachers, one absent for many years on this campus. The fact that these cuts affect a predominantly black and Latino student body reveals their racist nature.

The school bosses fired a veteran English teacher and, having no intention of hiring another teacher, rotated substitute teachers in and out of the class every day. With no curriculum, students created their own lesson plan: using the wasted time in class to make protest posters and organize a rally and walkout.

The following day, about 30 students walked out of class during 2nd period, the one used to calculate the average daily attendance. As students streamed out they chanted to bring back the fired teacher.

Students held their ground throughout the period and into the next one. Then 40 more students joined the rally. A few teachers, including a PL’er, stood nearby to show solidarity with the protest. As the rally grew, administrators became increasingly worried and sent cops to threaten students with $500 fines. Most students then returned to class.

Click to read more ...

Racist Philly Cops Murder Unarmed Black Youth

PHILADELPHIA, June 15 — On May 9, a racist Philadelphia cop murdered a 19-year-old unarmed black worker, Albert D. “Audi” Purnell, Jr. This young man was shot in cold blood after he had followed police orders and raised his hands in the air and surrendered. He was shot in front of a number of witnesses. The KKKops claimed he had a gun and “fit the description” of a suspect they were searching for. The witnesses have all declared that the police murdered him.

Audi’s father, Albert Purnell, Sr., a hospital worker and friend of PLP, and his mother Tracey are demanding justice for their murdered son. Hahnemann hospital workers are mad as hell and supporting this struggle against the racist cops.

Audi had just graduated from high school and begun working in the mechanical engineering section of the Department of Welfare. He was the father of a young daughter whom he loved dearly. He was on his way to visit his fiancé and their daughter when he was killed. The police and district attorney are doing everything they can to cover up this racist murder, including arresting and trying to intimidate the witnesses and seizing any video surveillance cameras in the area. They’re refusing to reveal the names of the cops and other details of the investigation.

Click to read more ...

Calif. Supermarket Workers Vote Strike; Union Sellouts say NO

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, June 13 —  Bravely refusing to buy into the rhetoric of “shared sacrifice,” 62,000 members of United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike against the three major Southern California supermarket chains: Ralph’s, Albertson’s, and Vons.

The workers’ contract expired in March, and a strike could start in June or early July. It is critical for workers throughout Southern California, the United States and the world to support this strike. Progressive Labor Party should take the lead in organizing support from workers in other unions and from non-unionized workers, from community organizations, churches, schools…everywhere.

The supermarket chains are out to take another bite out of workers’ health benefits and pensions, as they did in 2003. That was when they introduced a two-tier wage system, which divided workers and gave the bosses an incentive to get rid of better-paid veteran workers. The workers’ willingness to strike is especially noteworthy given the defeat they suffered in the five-month strike/lockout in 2003.

When members of our church talked to workers at a nearby supermarket, they were excited to hear that we wanted to support them on the picket line and serve meals to striking workers at the church. Activities such as these could build class solidarity and create an environment in which we can win workers to the need for communist revolution, which would be the most important outcome of this strike.

This outlook is the opposite of the approach of the UFCW leaders. The union helped elect Jerry Brown governor of California by donating members’ money — which should have gone into their strike fund — and by organizing telephone banks. Brown wants to shore up the declining capitalist economy by pushing “shared sacrifice,” meaning working people sacrifice while bosses take more and more. (The LA Times reported that UFCW Local 770 President Rick Icaza was paid $273,404 in 2002—the last year his salary was made public.) Furthermore, it looks like the UFCW leaders, along with the Los Angles County Federation of Labor, are ready to replay the strategy that led to the 2003 defeat:

Click to read more ...

‘We’re not Nazis’ Says Health Board Boss; Cook County Cuts Say You Are!

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, June 15 — “These cuts make one wonder whether the Cook County Board of Health is malicious or just incompetent,” a physician stated at a recent hearing.  One of the latest budget-slashing moves by the Cook County bosses is to not re-apply for WIC (Women, Infants and Children) program.  Mostly funded by federal money, WIC provides nutritional support to pregnant women and their infants or small children. Yet the Board is aiming to literally take milk away from babies!

At a recent hearing on this issue, pediatric healthcare providers spoke out against the cut.  One pointed out that it was racist because it will affect mostly black and Latino children.  A hospital board member felt compelled to criticize the use of words like “racist” or “Nazi” (a term used by the public to characterize the board at previous hearings). This time around, the Board voted down this particular cut. But keep in mind that these Board members are the same people who are going all out to try to close two of the County’s three public hospitals. They may yet scuttle the WIC program when they meet again on June 24.

Click to read more ...

Pacifism Won’t Work Greece: Cops Attack Workers’ Blockade of Parliament over Cuts, Layoffs

GREECE, June 21 — The working class in Greece is under a severe attack by the capitalist ruling class, and they are fighting back. Taking a lesson from the workers in Spain, thousands of Greek workers are occupying Syntagma Square outside of Parliament in Athens. Like the Spanish and Egyptian workers, they are setting up assemblies to discuss what actions to take against the coming cuts and layoffs. Although the workers are braving severe state repression in these acts of defiance, the assemblies are just as reformist as their Spanish and Egyptian counterparts, pushing for reformist and pacifist positions (see CHALLENGE, 6/08).

When the assemblies decided to peacefully blockade Parliament as part of a general strike against the Socialist Party-led government that approved the cuts, the state did not “turn the other cheek.” The kkkops attacked with clubs and tear gas, and the ultra-nationalist fascists in Greece began attacking many of the protestors, supporting the kkkops as paramilitary forces. So much for pacifism being anything other than a pathologically suicidal position designed to get workers to passively slaughter themselves for a pathetic “moral high ground.”

The economic aspect of imperialism is that foreign capital subjugates the national interests to the needs of the creditor states in the name of profit — and there is a lot at stake for the Greek ruling class, and capitalists around the world. The German ruling class that is behind the bailouts demands privatization of Greek resources, such as ports and utility companies. This will not only lay off thousands of workers while driving down wages, but it will also open up Greece, and thereby Europe, to their imperialist rival bosses in China and Russia, who are looking to buy ports in Thessaloniki and gain a foothold in the energy market. In addition, France, the U.S.’s closest ally in the European Union, is now in danger because a major international credit agency, Moody’s, said it might downgrade the three largest banks in France because of their exposure to Greek debt.

Click to read more ...

France: Union Hacks Back Bosses’ Plan to Tax Workers

PARIS, June 18 — In order to boost the competitiveness and profits of French companies, the government is moving to lower the social security contributions paid by private business. Taxpayers — most of whom are workers — will have to make up the shortfall through a value-added tax on consumer goods. This amounts to a sales tax, and since the tax is the same no matter what one’s income, it will cost workers a greater percentage of their income than rich people.

Moreover, this is a racist tax since workers of Arab and African origin are disproportionately poorer and will pay a larger percentage of their income than higher-income people.

The idea was advanced in a June 8 report co-authored by three bosses’ organizations and three sellout trade union confederations.

This week, both the Industry Minister and the ruling UMP party’s general secretary pushed debating the scheme, the first step in passing a law. To win public backing, the measure is billed as an “anti-offshoring value-added tax.” They claim that wages in France are “too high” because of the social security contributions the bosses have to pay. The bosses pretend they won’t move their factories to low-wage countries if they get what amounts to a wage-cut for workers — the new tax would cut into workers’ wages.

Blackmail

This is straightforward blackmail: telling workers their jobs will disappear overseas if they don’t cough up.

Industry Minister Eric Besson said, “The idea of shifting company social security contributions to a tax on another tax base, like consumption, merits debate. The cost of labor is one of the key elements in competitiveness.”

Click to read more ...

PLP’ers: Racist Capitalism’s the Problem N.J. State Workers: ‘Cut Bankers and Bosses’

TRENTON, N.J., June 16 — Thousands of state workers rallied at the state capitol against massive   cutbacks in pensions, and increases in insurance contributions. The state is also making huge racist cuts in welfare programs for mainly black and Latino workers. Four Democratic members of the legislature, including Senate President Sweeney, added their votes to those of the Republicans to pass a deal made with New Jersey Governor Christie.

Christie announced the deal to a standing ovation of business executives last night. Under the bill, retirees would lose Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA) for at least 30 years, the retirement age would go from 60 to 65, and pension contributions would go up by a third. Health insurance costs would double or triple, and unions won’t be able to renegotiate contributions for at least four years.

The best the union leaders could muster in response was “civil disobedience” by a few union leaders inside the hearing chamber, and complaints that state bosses are “trampling on our fundamental democratic rights.” Capitalism is a dictatorship of the bosses over the working class, not the other way around. The union leadership has no plan to reach out to and ally with private-sector workers, much less organize massive strikes to shut down the bosses’ government. Instead, they are relying on “friendly” Democrats in the Assembly to “kill the bill.”

PLP members and CHALLENGE readers attended the rally. A flyer was given out calling for unity between employed and unemployed workers against racist cutbacks in the state budget targeting unemployed workers. The flyer was received positively and several good conversations were had with our fellow workers. Here are some excerpts from the flyer:

Click to read more ...

Israeli Cops Attack Rail Workers’ Wildcat vs. Privatization

ISRAEL, May 12 — Railway workers here went on a wildcat strike protesting the arrest of their union leaders during a demonstration held the previous day. That action was protesting the railway management’s decision to privatize car maintenance service, transferring it to private manpower companies. This caused hundreds of railway workers to be laid off and, in the process, damaging and endangering the public safety.

Israeli police, always ready and eager to serve local bosses, violently attacked the workers, arresting ten of the railway workers’ union leaders. The next day, the courts — another organ of the bosses — issued a decision forbidding the workers to strike. The railway workers defied the court’s decision and wildcatted, demanding the immediate release of their comrades from jail.

This is a typical example of creeping fascism: the use of a police force to intimidate and break down the spirit of workers struggling to defend their jobs. The railway workers showed us the way to fight fascism — they challenged the bosses and their rotten capitalist system.

In recent years we have witnessed a process  by all Israeli governments, right and “left,” aimed at destroying organized labor. “Public” companies are handed over to private bosses and manpower companies, the modern slaveowners. Thus, workers are forced to work for slave wages with no collective contracts.

Click to read more ...

Palestine: Racist Israeli Rulers Steal Workers’ Land

AL-WALAJA, EAST JERUSALEM, June 8 — A group of PL’ers visited the village of al-Walaja guided by a village council member. The village is near the Har Giloh neighborhood and the Knesset (Israel’s parliament), and is home to 2,600 workers in Palestine. There is a separation wall between the village and its fields. There is a separate entry gate for Israeli settlers to al-Walaja and Beit Jallah. These settlers from Susya occasionally come to attack the village – to close the water line, poison the vegetation or burn trees. Across the apartheid-style “separation” wall, there is a new Israeli settlement called “Givat Yael”; this is the Zionist dream of “Greater Jerusalem”  — stealing land all over the place.

Until the wall was built in April 2010, al-Walaja was open to Jerusalem. It is still relatively easy to get to al-Walaja from the Knesset, but when the wall is completed, access will be permitted only through an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) checkpoint.

There is also a bridge connecting Giloh to the Israeli settlements, which can only be used by Jews. Last year, this was brought to court because it was built on private Palestinian land. Its racist exclusion of Palestinian vehicles could not be justified by “security” excuses.  The main reason it exists is to freeze Palestinian land development and push Palestinians away from their homes by making their lives intolerable.

One third of al-Walaja’s houses were demolished or heavily fined due to alleged “construction permit violations!” Half of the village is within Jerusalem’s municipal jurisdiction, while the other half is controlled by the IDF’s “Civil” Administration. The residents of al-Walaja have Palestinian IDs and thus no civil rights under Israeli law, despite the fact that they could prove that they lived on their lands since before the 1948 war. Al-walaja needs two schools, but in practice there is only one. The infrastructure is also terrible.

The only solution is the dictatorship of the proletariat worldwide. In a communist state, workers will receive according to need and work together to build a better future for everyone. The capitalist racist Israeli regime is colonial by definition: it enforces the exploitation and division of the working class, both Jews and Arabs. Therefore, it must be replaced by communist workers’ state.