WWP conference draws activists from all over

By Jaimeson Champion and Brenda Ryan
New York

The Workers World Party national conference held here on Nov. 17-18 drew hundreds of people from all over the country, many of whom had never been to a party conference before. They were moved by the party’s linkage of the immigrant struggle to the economic crisis and rising racism and its commitment to the unity of the class struggle.

Namibia Donadio with LeiLani Dowell and Tyneisha Bowens of FIST.

“The over-riding theme of the conference is for people to unite,” said Sandra Hines, an African American from Detroit. “This is a people’s fight to unite against capitalism, imperialism and racism. As an activist I have to pass this message along, to bring people into the movement. It’s our job to enlighten other people.” The experiences of others at the conference “fired me up to be an activist,” she said.

Hines engaged in a fierce battle this year, running for Detroit’s public school board in the Fifth District against Joyce Hayes-Giles. Hayes-Giles is vice president of the school board and vice president of Detroit’s gas and light company, DTE Energy. As part of her grassroots campaign, Hines successfully fought to keep one of the neighborhood schools from closing. Of the 15,000 votes cast, Hines got more than 5,000 to some 6,000 votes for Hayes-Giles. She is now fighting for the right of students to take schoolbooks home to study.

Many young activists and students attended the conference, sharing their experiences in the struggle and discussing ways to build class solidarity for a socialist future.

Hundreds protest racist, sexist atrocity in West Virginia

By Dante Strobino

In the biggest expression of anti-racist outrage since the Sept. 20 Jena 6 rally, nearly a thousand people from all over the country gathered in Charleston, W.Va., the state capital, on Nov. 3 to support Megan Williams, a 20-year-old Black woman who survived a vicious, racist gang raping, torture and week-long kidnapping.

FIST and Workers World Party National Conference, NYC, Nov 16-18

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Teenaged girl brutalized by racist officer

By Tyneisha Bowens

On Oct. 4, a videotape was released to the public showing a 15-year-old African-American girl being brutalized by a police officer in Fort Pierce, Fla. The video, recorded by the officer’s dashboard camera, shows the officer using what can only be deemed excessive and brutal force.

The young girl, whose identity has yet to be officially disclosed, was being taken into custody for violating a law enforcing a curfew for minors in Fort Pierce.

Youth and students cut artery to Capitol

By Peter Gilbert

Washington, D.C.

For more than six hours following the Troops Out Now Coalition’s march on Sept. 29 to cut off the funds for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, more than 100 youth and students from across the country blockaded Constitution and Pennsylvania avenues, the major roads leading to the Capitol building. They demanded an end to war funding and vowed that if the people’s resources continue to be used to wage imperialist war, the government will be prevented from operating.

Protesters occupy the intersection on Constitution and Pennsylvania Avenues. WW photo: Liz Green

Youth from as far away as Oregon, Florida and Vermont, and representing chapters of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), Fight Imperialism, Stand Together (FIST), Campus Anti-War Network (CAN), Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) and others, together with TONC leaders, united in the streets around a common demand of “Troops Out Now!”

As the march approached its destination at the Capitol building, hundreds of youth ran forward to block Constitution Avenue, and as the main body of the march passed the action many more joined in. Despite the willingness of many of the youth to risk arrest in order to close access to the Capitol, D.C. police were apparently overwhelmed by the size and militancy of the action.

After holding Constitution for an hour, the youth moved one block to take over the busier intersection where Constitution and Pennsylvania avenues meet. All six lanes of Constitution were blockaded so successfully that youth felt free to dance, string up banners and signs from the traffic lights, and even order pizza.

PART 3 - FIST, in Cuba, shows solidarity with revolution

By Abraham Mwaura and Dante Strobino

Members of FIST and Workers World Party traveled to Cuba from July 18 to 28 to defy the travel ban and to witness the gains of the socialist revolution. Following is Part 3 of reports from their experience. Visit workers.org to see the previous reports.

Cuba defends all expressions of sexuality

FIST was invited to the National Center for Sexual Education (CENESEX) on July 24 for a presentation and discussion about the methods undertaken in Cuba to defend the rights of and provide resources to lesbian, gay, bi, and transgender Cubans. CENESEX has been greatly aided in this process by the Cuban Women’s Federation, which has been reaching out to people’s sensitivity as human beings.

CENESEX presented information about their successful efforts to educate Cubans in all walks of life to be sensitive and open to all expressions of sexuality. Unlike the vast majority of political structures in the U.S., this education also targets the police and institutions as well as the population as a whole. Anti-gay and anti-trans violence on the island is now virtually non-existent.

Flags honoring Cuban martyrs at the Anti-Imperialist Tribunal near the Malecón in Havana. WW photo: LeiLani Dowell

In universalizing their free medical treatment, Cuba provides free transitional surgery and hormones for transgender Cubans. Their efforts towards health care services have been so successful that the rate of HIV infection on the island is nearly 60 times less than in other Caribbean nations!

The FIST delegation presented CENESEX with a framed “Rainbow Solidarity to Free the Cuban 5” poster describing the recent efforts to build the international campaign of solidarity for Cuba inside the LGBTQ movement. Leslie Feinberg, co-chair of the LGBT caucus of the National Writers Union/UAW, author of groundbreaking books “Stone Butch Blues and Transgender Warriors,” and participant in the delegation, presented one of her books to transgender staff members at CENESEX. The gifts were received with warm thanks.

FIST youth visit Cuba, challenge travel ban

By Abraham Mwaura and Dante Strobino

Twelve members of the youth group Fight Imperialism, Stand Together (FIST) from San Diego, Raleigh, West Virginia, Denver, Boston, Rutgers University and New York City—together with five members of Workers World Party—traveled to Cuba from July 18-28 to defy the travel ban and to witness the gains of the socialist revolution.

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In Cuba, the FIST delegation observed how a planned economy and centralized government following the path of socialist revolution have provided the necessary material conditions to carry out the process of the withering away of racism, sexism, homophobia and all forms of oppression, and for the building of a new human being.

Momentum for Encampment and September 29 March on Washington Grows!

SEPTEMBER 29 - MARCH ON WASHINGTON - STOP THE WAR!
Momentum Grows for Sept 29 in Washington and Los Angeles!
41 Organizing Centers in 23 States! (see list below)
Over 60 Buses planned!
Over 1000 endorsers! (see below)
Download Flyers Now! (see flyer below)

Read the Call for Unity | Volunteer for Sept 29 | Donate
Find an Organizing Center Near You | Become an Organizing Center
Endorse the Call for a Unified Demonstration on Sept. 29
Call for Encampment and March Sept 22-29 | Download leaflet

Momentum is growing for the National March on September 29 and the Encampment to Stop the War during the week of September 22-29.

In the past few days, hundreds of new endorsers have signed on, and new organizing centers are being formed all over the country.  As of today, TONC now has 41 Organizing Centers in 23 states.  We already have information on at least 60 buses that are mobilizing to come to September 29.

Stop the War at Home and Abroad!
Bring the Troops Home Now!
Impeach Bush & Cheney for War Crimes!

10,000 organizers bring worldwide struggles to Social Forum

By John Catalinotto
Atlanta

Some 10,000 grassroots organizers, anti-racist fighters, farm workers, domestic workers, anti-war veterans, former prisoners and their families, spokespeople for lesbian/gay/bi/trans rights, women’s rights and environmental organizations, and activists in virtually every progressive struggle underway in the U.S. today came together in Atlanta from June 27 to July 1 for the U.S. Social Forum.

Thousands march at June 27 opening ceremony for the United States Social Forum in Atlanta. WW photos: Imani Henry, John Catalinotto, and Monica Moorehead

They came from 1,000 organizations and held more than 1,000 workshops, meetings and plenary sessions, one major march and other demonstrations in five days under the broiling sun of central Georgia—and one torrential rainfall. They came from all 50 states, and 400 international guests came from 70 countries, including Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

There are undoubtedly different evaluations of how successfully the USSF organizers and its different departments were able to address the needs and rights of all oppressed groups present. Still, there were some remarkable features. These include the composition of the forum and its strong spirit of grass-roots struggle and solidarity. Forum participants were multinational, with more than half being people of color. They were almost all personally engaged in struggle and they were looking to give and get support.

There were people of all ages, including many youths under 30. The workshops included but also stretched beyond the movement veterans who cut their teeth in the Civil Rights and Black Liberation movements, the anti-Vietnam War movement and the other struggles that took place in that relatively progressive period of the late 1960s and early 1970s. A workshop organized by the youth organization FIST—Fight Imperialism, Stand Together—on the contributions of Che Guevara reflected this youth upsurge in the struggle.

SHUT DOWN THE WAR this September! Join the Encampment!

Stop the War at Home and Abroad!

Join the Encampment to Stop the War in Washington, D.C., from September 22-29!

September: The next big confrontation over the war

According to the Washington calendar, September will see the next big political confrontation on the war. This is when the House and Senate debate war funding for 2008. And it is when General David Petraeus reports to Congress on the status of Bush’s troop “surge.”

We must make sure that the antiwar movement is in Washington to make our voice heard and demand an end to the criminal war and occupation of Iraq.

This is a time of great opportunity for the antiwar movement. The Bush plans to colonize Iraq have clearly failed and the overwhelming majority of the people are against the war. Now is a time when the people can have a real impact, if we act decisively and in a spirit of unity.

In April of this year, the Troops Out Now Coalition proposed that September 22-29 be a week of resistance, with an Encampment to Stop the War and a mass March on the White House on Saturday, March 29.