‘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.

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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.

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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.”

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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:

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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.

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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.

Communists Are Attacked: Teachers, Students and Parents Fight Back!

Updated on Wednesday, June 22, 2011 at 9:30PM by Challenge_Desafío

BROOKLYN, NY May 26 — More than one hundred students, teachers, and parents held a militant rally outside Clara Barton High School to fight an attack against two communist teachers. The protest was sparked by the principal launching an investigation against four teachers since last fall.

The teachers subsequently received a letter from the Special Commissioner of Investigation that detailed their political activities over the last several years and concluded that they had “recruited students to attend an unauthorized trip to [an anti-budget-cut] rally in Washington, D.C.” The letter concluded, “It is the recommendation of this office that appropriate disciplinary action be taken against….” The teachers are still waiting for a decision on this disciplinary action, which was supposed to be handed down by May 27. 

The day before the decision was due, the Department of Education (DoE) and its accomplices drew a resounding response at the rally. The protestors demanded an end to the investigation, and that no charges be lodged against these two teachers. Chants of “Fight back!” and “Education, not investigation!” rang out loud and clear. A student and a teacher gave excellent speeches attacking the DOE’s racist and fascist methods (see below).

When the cops were called and stopped the use of our bullhorn, the picketers continued without it. The head of the security lied to students, telling them they had to move away from the school. When the crowd heard this, they started chanting “The principal is a liar, we’ll set his ass on fire!” As they booed the security chief, he quickly ran back inside the school. The rally ended on a high note, with everyone marching through the neighborhood. The community was enthusiastic at the sight of young and old, black, Latino and white marching together!

A Fascist Culture of Investigations

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Afghanistan: TAPI Pipeline, Imperialist Rivalry Make U.S. Troop Withdrawal Impossible

Obama and his war counselors continue to engage in a tactical debate over the length and duration of the occupation in Afghanistan, as noted in the June 6 New York Times. But the United States’ long-term strategic necessity to protect this valuable real estate was made plain in a brutal terror attack one week earlier.

On May 28, U.S. bombs killed five girls, seven boys, and two women as they slept in Afghanistan’s Helmand province, one of the devastated areas (along with Kandahar province) that lie along the path of the TAPI (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India) gas pipeline. At the time, U.S. puppet Afghan president Karzai was off in neighboring Turkmenistan, negotiating details of TAPI. The killings stem directly from this deal and exemplify the anti-worker violence inherent in capitalist competition.

Obama & Co. ordered the Helmand strike in retaliation for the death of a Marine whose job was to help secure the pipeline. It makes little difference whether the targeting was accidental or deliberate. Either way, U.S. rulers have been indiscriminately killing innocent civilians in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq for three decades. Their willingness to slaughter millions in this imperial exploit ranks with Hitler’s terrorist V-2 rocket raids on London and the U.S. holocausts in Dresden, Tokyo, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki.

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World Cup and Olympics Prep Devastates Workers’ Lives in Brazil

With the largest economy and armed forces in Latin America, and the eighth-largest economy in the world, Brazil is poised to mount a challenge to U.S. dominance in the hemisphere. Already a member of the G-20 (the leading capitalist powers that guide the international financial system) and of BRIC (the counter-U.S. bloc that also includes emerging powers Russia, India, and China), Brazil now seeks a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.

To advance its position, the Brazilian ruling class is busy strengthening its imperialist credentials around the world as it imposes police fascist terror at home.

As the military leader of MINUSTAH, the U.N. occupation force in Haiti that terrorizes the populace in the name of “security,” Brazil has spearheaded numerous atrocities since 2004, from a massacre in the City Soleil neighborhood of Port-au-Prince to the murder of union leaders and students. But Brazil’s brutal rulers were just getting started.

The Brazil-Israel Security Connection

In late 2010, Brazil signed a “historic” security cooperation agreement with Israel that could generate billions of dollars in classified procurement contracts between top Israeli defense manufacturers and various Brazilian security agencies (Xinhua, 12/2/2010).

Beyond giving Israel a platform to penetrate other South American markets, these arms deals will provide Brazil’s ruling class with the tools it needs (including Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and advanced satellite surveillance technology) to contain guerrilla uprisings on the continent.

“Homeland security” is a growing concern for the Brazilian ruling class as the country prepares to host the World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016. The Israeli arms industry will be the merchant/consultant for security arrangements for these events — a role for which it is more than qualified. Six of the seven companies competing for these contracts have been implicated in war crimes or in espionage, or both.

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Mass Class Struggle Needed vs. Racist Transit Bosses

NEW YORK CITY — A week after a wheel fell off an in-service bus in Queens, and six months before the largest city transit worker contract expires, TWU (Transport Workers Union) Local 100 safety inspectors found 96 unsafe buses at the College Point bus depot on May 25. The disregard of the MTA (Metropolitan Transit Authority) for safety and the workers’ enforcement of their contract effectively shut down morning rush-hour service.

Like all capitalists and their loyal bureaucrats, the MTA management responded to Local 100’s safety inspection by putting profits first. Workers’ tax dollars, transit workers’ labor and riders’ fares enable the MTA to pay Wall Street investors $1.2 billion interest in profits. These payments increase annually, coming from worker layoffs, reduced service and maintenance.

Management’s job is to preserve those profits, above all. So instead of dealing with the safety problems that put passengers and operators in danger, depot supervisors took four bus operators out of service for refusing to drive unsafe buses. Communism, a worker-run society without profits and bosses, would put the needs of the international working class first.

This latest attack on transit follows two years of layoffs, delays in transit worker raises, fare hikes, and deteriorating service. One of the four out-of-service operators, a shop steward with two unrelated pending charges, faces dismissal. (Another bus operator with no disciplinary record is now back in service.) These latest attacks on transit workers, along with the dangerous conditions that sparked them, are inherently racist because they strike the majority black, Latino, and immigrant riders and workers hardest.

Militant job actions, such as safety shutdowns, are workers’ best response to these racist attacks. But the political line that drives the militancy matters as much as the actions themselves. Under a capitalist system, the bosses who run society will inevitably take away a “good” contract or decent safety measures over time. U.S. public-sector workers, who represent 20 percent of all black workers, are under the gun from politicians of all the bosses’ parties.

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