From [email protected] Oct 31 10:56:01 1994
Date: Sun, 30 Oct 94 21:28 CST
From: James Davis <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Subject: People's Tribune 11-7-94 (Online Edition)

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                People's Tribune (Online Edition)
                Vol. 21 No. 45 / November 7, 1994

                P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654
                       Email: [email protected]

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INDEX to the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE (Online Edition)
Vol. 21 No. 45 / November 7, 1994

FRONT PAGE STORY FOLLOWS INDEX

Editorial
1. VOTERS ARE ANGRY; THEY DON'T SEE ANY 'RECOVERY'!

News
2. 100,000 MARCH AGAINST ATTACKS ON IMMIGRANTS
3. 'IMMIGRATION REFORM' LEADS WAY TO POLICE STATE
4. REDUCE 'AID FOR DEPENDENT CORPORATIONS'!
5. WELFARE REFORMS WILL NOT SAVE MONEY
6. RESIDENTS PLAN MARCH AGAINST POLICE TERROR IN CHICAGO HOUSING
   AUTHORITY

Focus on Veteran's Day 1994
7. ON VETERANS DAY 1994, A VETERAN ASKS: WHY ARE VETS BEING
   ATTACKED BY THE SYSTEM WE FOUGHT FOR?
8. TURN SWORDS INTO HOMESHARES

American Lockdown
9. CALIFORNIA: VOTE NO ON PROPOSITION 184

Deadly Force
10. 'OUT COLD COPS': POLICE 'RAPPERS' ADMIT TO
   CORRUPTION AND BRUTALITY

Culture Under Fire
11. 70TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION FOR DENNIS BRUTUS: 'THE STRUGGLE
   CONTINUES'
12. U.S. TRIES TO SILENCE FREE RADIO BERKELEY

Letter to the Editor
13. MENTALLY ILL MISTREATED IN PRISON

Resources, Announcements, Events, etc.
14. START A FOOD NOT BOMBS GROUP IN YOUR COMMUNITY
15. WELFARE FOR THE RICH: WELFARE FRAUD BY AGRIBUSINESSMEN
16  EVENT: TRIBUTE TO NATIVE AMERICANS
17. FOR A BROADER VIEW, READ _RALLY, COMRADES!_

ABOUT THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE

+----------------------------------------------------------------+
PAGE 1 STORY

THE 1994 ELECTIONS: IT'S TIME TO MAKE 'FOR THE PEOPLE' A REALITY!

The 1994 elections are at hand with the government and the
mouthpieces for the ruling class trumpeting that the economy is
out of recession and unemployment is falling.

That's certainly news to us and to the American people. They know
firsthand that layoffs are spreading like wildfire. They know
poverty is deepening while the biggest corporations and the
biggest banks get richer.

The future of the American people under the millionaires and
billionaires who control this economy and the government is
getting bleaker. The rich don't need us to work for them in their
factories and offices. They don't need our children as future
workers, either, so they kill off public education and abandon our
children to drugs, police terror, prison and violent death.

As a result, politicians who speak for the rich tell us it is in
our interest to leave millions of Americans without health
insurance, to force mothers off welfare and/or break up their
families, to punish undocumented immigrants, to snare everybody in
the net of "three strikes" laws.

In other words, we're being asked to poison ourselves by going
along with the fascist policies of the wealthy.

What better sign is there that it is time for them to go? The
emerging technology represents the very tools which can produce
all the food, clothing, homes, health care and much more that we
need. It can produce total abundance and end poverty.

In a society without poverty, all of us can live full, productive
lives free of fear.

This is the solution to the present crisis that best serves our
interests. We don't need the fascist solutions of the millionaires
and billionaires.

+----------------------------------------------------------------+



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1. EDITORIAL: VOTERS ARE ANGRY; THEY DON'T SEE ANY 'RECOVERY'!

"If the economy is up, why is Clinton down?" asked a headline in
the October 24 edition of U.S. News & World Report.

If the economy is improving, why do opinion polls predict heavy
losses for the Democrats in the midterm elections?

In a poll conducted for TIME magazine and Cable News Network in
October, 800 people were asked if they felt personally better-off
as a result of what the poll cheerfully called the "recent
improvement of the economy." Fifty-eight percent of those surveyed
answered "no."

The deep anger felt by the American people toward President
Clinton, the Congress and almost all established institutions has
its roots in an economic revolution taking place in America.

Today, capitalists are throwing millions of people out of work and
replacing them with robots and computers.

Caterpillar Inc. is a case in point. For years, this manufacturer
of tractors and other heavy equipment has been replacing human
workers with computers and robots. Caterpillar's openly stated
goal is to manufacture as much as it can by using "unattended
assembly" -- production without human labor. The company has
slashed its work force by 31 percent in the last 12 years.

While Caterpillar's  moves have devastated once-stable Illinois
communities like Peoria and East Decatur, these measures have also
lowered the company's costs and increased productivity. On October
24, Caterpillar announced that it had made a profit of $244
million in the third quarter of 1994, the second-best three-month
period in the company's history.

What holds true for Caterpillar, the world's leading builder of
construction and earth-moving equipment, also holds true for the
U.S. economy as a whole. When capitalists talk about an economic
"recovery," they simply mean that their profits, once in poor
health, recover.

"While corporate profits and executive salaries are rising
rapidly, real wages ... are not growing at all," TIME reported
October 24, in a cover story on the economy. (The main headline on
TIME's cover asked "Boom for Whom?") The TIME piece went on to
describe the fall in the median income, the growth of poverty and
the dramatic rise in temporary work currently taking place in
America.

The TIME story expressed surprise at what it called these
"astonishing developments" during a "business recovery." But
millions of Americans distrust the talk of "recovery" precisely
because they sense we are not simply living through a bad phase in
the ordinary business cycle. The usual business cycle features
alternating extremes of "boom" and "bust." Today, a powerful new
technology has been introduced into production by  the
capitalists. This new technology is making human labor
unnecessary. This is not a temporary "bust" for the millions who
this system has permanently discarded. It will not be followed by
any "boom" for us.

Those of us who this "recovery" has left behind now have two
choices. We can  accept hunger and misery or we can seize the new
technology from the exploiters and use it to build a new society.


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2. 100,000 MARCH AGAINST ATTACKS ON IMMIGRANTS

By Maria Teixeira

LOS ANGELES -- Beautiful banners filled the streets as an
estimated 100,000 people marched here on October 16 in the largest
such demonstration in the city's history.

Made up of immigrants and people of all colors, there were
students, teachers, medical personnel, unions, churches, community
groups, and more.

The marchers felt a sense of pride and strength as they yelled
"We're here to stay!" and "Kick Pete Wilson, not immigrants, out
of the country!"

The marchers were especially angry about the government's attack
on children. Proposition 187 would deny education to children
whose parents are undocumented. It is estimated that this would
throw 300,000 children out of school and into the streets.

Humanity is the issue: We must say NO to their solutions.

We cannot accept the solutions of those in power. Deportations,
jails, more Border Patrol agents and police will not solve the
economic crisis. They are testing the ground in California in
order to push this type of legislation all over the country.

The march demonstrated the resistance to the attack against the
immigrant worker in particular and the attack against the poor in
general. This resistance must grow and put forward its own social
policy based on the people's needs. We cannot leave control in the
hands of the Pete Wilsons.

We must insist on a decent life for everyone -- citizen or not,
young or old, of whatever religion or nationality. We must insist
that they use the taxes of the rich, billion-dollar corporations
to pay for the needs of our children.

We salute the 100,000 marchers in Los Angeles. There are millions
more in the country who form an army of resistance and say,
"Enough is enough!"


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3. 'IMMIGRATION REFORM' LEADS WAY TO POLICE STATE

By Jim Davis

On September 30, an "immigration reform" panel appointed by
Congress recommended that a computer registry be established based
on Social Security Administration and Immigration and
Naturalization Service (INS) files. Under the proposed plan, every
person would be tracked by the government, and be subject to a
computer search of their "legality" before they could get a job.

The commission, headed by former Representative Barbara Jordan,
has set up one section of the poor -- undocumented workers -- to
blame for the failure of the government to provide jobs, housing,
education and health care.

Such a solution is a major step towards the high-tech police
state, and everyone is going to get caught up in the net.

So much for the land of the free.


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4. REDUCE 'AID FOR DEPENDENT CORPORATIONS'!

By Pat Gowens,
Editor, Welfare Mothers Voice

MILWAUKEE -- If we as a nation have given up the possibility of
business paying living wages to non-professional workers,
logically we need to create a government aid program for the
working poor. However, it makes no sense to fund it by eliminating
the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), the nation's
only public child-support program.

AFDC costs $15 billion a year and provides an average of $370 a
month in child support for four million families. (Ninety percent
have only one parent). Only $5 billion gets to the families. Ten
billion dollars goes to bureaucrats to police, punish and force
poor moms to:

1. report every dollar they earn or receive and every person who
helps them; and

2. go through mandatory dead-end job search/training programs.

Why take funds from an insignificant, punitive child-support
program to fund welfare for the "working poor"? We would be taking
from poor children to fund their poor, working moms! Neither
dependent minors nor their caregivers can afford to subsidize the
workplace. They desperately need their support, whether mom works
at home or is employed.

The obvious source of funding for the working poor is the Aid For
Dependent Corporations programs. Dependent corporations receive
$104 billion in  federal welfare each year from us generous
taxpayers -- $51 billion in direct subsidies and $53.3 billion in
tax breaks. And dependent corporations do not need the government
handouts they receive. Many corporate welfare recipients are on
the Forbes 400 list of richest Americans! Aid For Dependent
Corporations provides:

* $100 million to Sunkist, Gallo, M&Ms, Campbell's Soup,
McDonalds, etc. to advertise their products abroad;

* $1 billion for Continental Grain, Cargill Inc. and Louis Dreyfus
Corp. to receive free shipments of wheat, corn and other
commodities from U.S. reserves. (Some commodity program!);

* $55 million to pay the grazing fees for livestock of wealthy
ranchers. (We pay $7 out of every $9 per animal grazing fee, even
for multimillionaires like J.R. Simplot.);

* $135.6 million to private forestry companies who owe taxpayers
for timber purchased, but are allowed to default with no
consequences!

* $48 million for land titles to mining companies who pay less
than $4,500 for each title instead of the millions that the land
is worth.

We can easily shave $50 billion to $75 billion off of the Aid For
Dependent Corporations program to subsidize the working poor. Then
we need to clean up the Aid to Families with Dependent Children
program to rid it of its punitive, destructive nature.

With the $10 billion spent to police moms, we can guarantee all
dependent minors support to the age of 18 with no strings
attached. This will give moms the right to work without losing any
of their children's support. Like Social Security Survivor's
benefits, we should also guarantee mom support, as the primary
caregiver, until she earns $7,000 a year.

We can use the exorbitant Aid For Dependent Corporations dole to
help employees, and guarantee all dependent minors a secure
income. Then  we will recognize the value in guaranteeing all
Americans a secure income -- the unemployed, underemployed,
injured workers, people with disabilities, the elderly, and all
unpaid caregivers.

To do this, we will drastically reduce war expenditures, collapse
all public benefits programs (including the remaining Aid For
Dependent Corporations), eliminate the policing bureaucracies, and
create one Guaranteed Annual Income. Then all Americans will share
in the wealth of this nation and we will find peace and harmony in
this country.

To join the Welfare Warriors in the fight for a Guaranteed Annual
Income, call 414-444-0220 or write to 4504 N. 47, Milwaukee,
Wisconsin 53218.

Corporate welfare figures come from Essential Information, Inc.,
James Donahue, P.O. Box 19405, Washington, D.C. 20036.



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5. WELFARE REFORMS WILL NOT SAVE MONEY

By Jan Lightfoot

HINCKLEY, Maine -- The so-called welfare reform will wipe out
family values by separating families and erasing family units. One
version of the welfare bill includes millions of dollars for the
increased use of orphanages.

Without welfare, low-income mothers or fathers will no longer be
able to feed their own children. Americans will revert to the
severe conditions of the 1890s and the 1920s, when families were
compelled to surrender their children to uncaring strangers in
orphanages.

In 1935, the Social Security Act was passed, including the Aid to
Families with Dependent Children program. Each aspect of Social
Security law was intended to prevent another economic depression.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt envisioned that any flaws in the
economic system could be corrected, rather than the whole system
failing.

President Clinton's plan will penalize every innocent child, the
children who the AFDC program was created to protect.

When the stroke of a pen is allowed to annihilate one part of the
Social Security Act, taxpayers will conclude they can no longer
afford to pay Social Security to older folks and outlaw those
payments. Piece by piece, that safety net will fall away.

With welfare reform, any savings will be converted to increased
operation of orphanages.

Tell your lawmaker to vote "no" on any of the welfare reform
proposals now in Congress because they all have the two-year cap
and other aspects which are dangerous.

Right now, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services, 66.3 percent of welfare recipients are off welfare
within three years, most under three years. By forcing recipients
off after two years, most of these people will be hurt because
they will be forced off for life under the Clinton plan (except
for unspecified special circumstances).

This is why we should tell our lawmakers to vote "no." Welfare can
be changed to work better so that people are given the tools they
need to get off welfare, such as access to credit, day care and
other things they need to pull themselves out of poverty.


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6. RESIDENTS PLAN MARCH AGAINST POLICE TERROR IN CHA

By Rich Capalbo

CHICAGO -- On October 13, five-year-old Eric Morse died in a fall
from a window in the Ida B. Wells development of the Chicago
Housing Authority. According to the police, Eric was yet another
child killed by other children.

Eric Morse has become this week's political football. A tragedy
like this seems to be the only event that can move the political
hacks and the local media to pay any attention at all to the
conditions of public housing residents and the poor in general.

The politicians and the media wring their hands or demand more
jails and youth detention centers, but that is the extent of their
commitment to the poor of the city, particularly in public
housing.

Chicago Housing Authority residents have had enough. They are
tired of being treated as second-class citizens.

Chicago police and CHA police laugh at the federal court
injunction that slowed down the warrantless police "sweeps" last
spring. They are again on the attack against any and all residents
under the guise of cleaning up gangs and drugs.

Over the last couple of months, outrageous police conduct has been
reported almost daily. Residents are challenged for I.D. to enter
their own homes. Children are pushed around with no cause. Young
men and women are searched publicly in the most degrading ways.
CHA cops have been seen going through residents' mailboxes. CHA
police without badges or name tags try to barge into apartments
and threaten retaliation for any resistance. This virtual police
state exists within a few miles of City Hall.

When the residents, especially the children, turn on each other in
this pressure cooker, the local press has a field day. Where is
the press when the cycle of violence and abuse is initiated by the
government? Where is the press when children go hungry from
welfare cuts? Where are they when police surround a group of
children (not one over 15) playing outside, draw their guns and
order them to lie on the ground, cursing at the children with the
vilest language imaginable?

Residents don't intend to keep taking it. They understand that the
system is trying to criminalize them and isolate them so they can
be moved out of the way of developers who see nothing but profit
in CHA property.

Robert Taylor Homes residents and others do not intend to be run
over by the CHA. They want decent, safe homes and a community
where they can raise their children peacefully. They are fighting
for Eric Morse and all the children who live in public housing.

Robert Taylor residents will be organizing peaceful but militant
protests of the continuing abuse by the government, the police and
by CHA officials. The first demonstration, "Marching for Freedom,"
will be on November 5. The march will start at 53rd and State.

They are fighting for rights for all of us. That is why the NOC
and the People's Tribune are in full support of "Marching for
Freedom" and we urge everyone interested in this fight for justice
to participate.

For more information about protest activities, call 312-285-3342.


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7. ON VETERANS DAY 1994, A VETERAN ASKS: WHY ARE VETS BEING
ATTACKED BY THE SYSTEM WE FOUGHT FOR?

+----------------------------------------------------------------+
WHY YOU SHOULD READ THIS PAGE -- WHETHER YOU'RE A VETERAN OR NOT

Most of us understand that America needs a basic change: it
doesn't work anymore.

This page, like many pages in the People's Tribune, points out how
the economic revolution is creating social and political changes
that affect every one of us. Many times, it's easier to see the
changes in someone else's yard than it is to see them in our own
yard. So, everyone who is not a vet ought to read this to see how
the capitalist class is systematically attacking veterans.
Veterans ought to read it for the same reason.
+----------------------------------------------------------------+

By Bruce E. Parry,
Vietnam veteran and veteran revolutionary

Veterans are under attack. We aren't under attack because the rich
and the government don't like us. On the contrary, veterans are a
basic source of political and social support for this system. The
conservative political positions of the Veterans of Foreign Wars,
the American Legion and even the Vietnam Veterans of America prove
that.

The economics of modern capitalism is changing. In the last 20
years, electronics has changed the way we produce.   The way we
distribute food, housing, and even health care has not kept pace.

Micro-chips, computers, robots, and all the high technology they
have spawned --  from VCRs to genetically altered tomatoes --
have replaced workers in the work place. Those workers who still
have jobs are working for lower wages because they are competing
with robots, not just other workers.

This has caused the standard of living of the average American to
fall. At the same time, it has caused a vicious battle by
corporations for enormous profits.

In the effort to maximize their profits, business demanded that
government cut taxes to corporations and to their owners, the
rich. Taxes for businesses and the rich have been slashed at every
level since 1980.

That's why government budgets are getting squeezed. There's plenty
of money. But the government works for the rich, so it refuses to
get money from those who have it.

Instead, the same government officials -- elected and appointed --
who brought us tax cuts for the rich are now bringing us "tighten
our belts" and "balance the budget." That means cuts in every kind
of social program, including veterans' benefits.

At first, veterans' health care was free. Any veteran could walk
into a Veterans Administration medical facility and get treatment.
Then the Department of Veterans Affairs  added income
requirements: If you had too much money, you had to pay. Soon,
they demanded payments from the veterans' private insurance
companies. As of May 1993, the VA began demanding co-payments for
some medicine. There have even been proposals made recently to
provide veterans' care through private insurance and abolish the
VA medical system completely.

Of course, the fewer services the VA provides, the fewer  veterans
who use the system. At the same time, it is getting harder for
veterans to have their illnesses and injuries certified as
"service-connected." Again, this means fewer veterans are treated.
Serving fewer veterans provides an excuse for eliminating even
more services.

The direction is clear. The government is moving toward providing
less and less health care for veterans. Eventually, veterans'
health problems which are not service-connected will be treated
only on a pay-as-you-go basis. Then, there will be no health care
which is not service-connected. Eventually, care will be available
only for retirees and for those most severely injured during
military service.

This is happening because of the economy. It is part of the
general direction of limiting access to health care for all
Americans. The attack on veterans is not going to go away by
itself.

Since the government cannot assure itself of the political support
of veterans by taking care of us, it seeks to do so by using
ideology. It appeals to our love of freedom and democracy and to
our memories of the sacrifices we made as veterans.

But no matter how much it appeals to our patriotism, a government
that cannot provide the basics of life to its population --
particularly to those who served it -- does not deserve our
support.


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8. TURN SWORDS INTO HOMESHARES

By Mary Uebelgunne

RALEIGH, North Carolina -- Charity begins at home and not in other
lands!

It is true, veterans are walking the streets, looking for work and
eating at the soup kitchen with no place to call home. Funds that
are needed are being sent and spent in other countries.

The homeless vets who fought for what we have now have it taken
away from them because of their status in society. It is time for
America to stop turning her back on her own people's suffering and
turn swords into homeshares.

By poking our nose into Haiti's business, America can remain in
denial about its own homeless depression. Now is the time to take
care of our own, here at home.


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9. AMERICAN LOCKDOWN: VOTE NO ON PROPOSITION 184

By Clyde Flowers

A homeless man steals a two-dollar padlock to protect his only
possession, a bicycle. Sentence: 25 years-to-life in prison.

A man steals three steaks to feed his family. Sentence: 25 years-
to-life in prison.

A man steals a can of beer from a 7-11 store. Sentence: 25 years-
to-life in prison.

This is what "justice" looks like under California's "three
strikes" law. The law makes a 25 year-to-life sentence mandatory
for a third felony (a second conviction of shoplifting is a
felony, regardless of the value of the stolen merchandise).

Proposition 184, the "three strike" initiative, will go before
California voters in the November 8 election. The proposition has
exactly the same language as the law enacted in March by the
legislature. If the proposition passes on November 8, it will
virtually be impossible to repeal or change this barbaric law.

Many objections have been raised to the "three strikes" law:

* It is choking the court system as the accused demand jury trials
instead of the old system of plea-bargaining.

* The cost of building and maintaining prisons is bankrupting the
state. In 1989, there were approximately 75,000 prisoners in
California. With "three strikes" there will be over 200,000 by
1999.

* Police officers are even opposed to the law because it makes it
much more dangerous to apprehend suspects who face certain life
sentences if captured.

But all this opposition fades compared to the real tragedy of
"three strikes." This law is really about the destruction of human
life. And it is pointed squarely at the poor and unemployed.
California Attorney General Dan Lungren is a strong supporter of
the law. Commenting about cases where offenders are sentenced to
life for small crimes, Lungren said, "At first glance, these cases
may look inappropriate, but when you look deeper, you say, 'My
God, this is exactly the category of people we want off the
streets.' " And what is that category? It is surely not the S&L
crooks, not the killer cops or the tax-evading billionaires.

In ancient times, the penalty for stealing a loaf of bread was to
cut off an arm. But that did not stop theft because then, as now,
when people are hungry, when people are desperate, they will do
what they have to do to survive.


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10. DEADLY FORCE: 'OUT COLD COPS': POLICE 'RAPPERS' ADMIT TO
CORRUPTION AND BRUTALITY

+----------------------------------------------------------------+
"Deadly Force" is a weekly column dedicated to exposing the scope
of police terror in the United States. We open our pages to you,
the front line  fighters against brutality and deadly force. Send
us eyewitness accounts, clippings, press releases, appeals for
support, letters, photos, opinions and all other information
relating to this life and death fight. Send them to People's
Tribune, P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, Ill. 60654, or call (312) 486-
3551.
+----------------------------------------------------------------+

By Yunus Collins

DETROIT -- A few Detroit police officers, who call themselves "Out
Cold Cops," are trying to take rap and use it against the very
people who created it. They have made a record they call "Major
Damage." It contains lyrics of profanity, violence and the
degradation of citizens who they regard as criminals.

With all the uproar about violence and profanity in rap music,
you'd expect a reaction to these supposed role models from Tipper
Gore, President Clinton and company. But we're not likely to see
that -- abuse by police officers is not even acknowledged by the
administration -- not while they are calling for 100,000 more cops
on the streets.

Last year, "Out Cold Cops" appeared on the Jerry Springer Show.
These police officers appeared on the show with hooded masks and
dark sunglasses. They were glorifying and "justifying" police
deadly force and brutality. They took the position that it is
legal for a cop sworn to uphold the law to become judge, jury and
executioner. They also said that alleged suspects should be
"educated" before they are incarcerated. But the "education"
they're talking about consists of billy clubs, nightsticks and
bullets.

On their record, OCC talks about "crack-selling niggas in body
bags" as something that excites them. They dedicate the record to
"all officers that don't give a f--- about a jury and ain't scared
to kick ass." They denounce Malice Green (killed by Detroit
police) as that "Afro-jeri curl, punk-ass nigga on Warren." They
acknowledge that Malice Green and Rodney King are just the tip of
the iceberg. They admit to being crooked -- even claiming that
they "became cops to join the crooks legally." They also talk
openly about disrespecting the U.S. Constitution -- in their
admissions of false arrests, harassment, obstructing justice, and
jail killings.

It's especially insulting that they talk about "niggers paying for
police brutality" in a primarily African American city that paid
$20 million last year alone in settlements and lawsuits to victims
of police brutality. Taxpayers in Detroit should be outraged that
their money is paying the salaries as well as covering for these
crooks and hypocrites.

Excerpted from Deadly Force News, a publication of the Detroit
Chapter of the NOC.


******************************************************************
11. 70TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION FOR DENNIS BRUTUS: 'THE STRUGGLE
CONTINUES'

+----------------------------------------------------------------+
CULTURE UNDER FIRE

Culture jumps barriers of geography and color. Millions of
Americans create with music, writing, film and video, graffiti,
painting, theatre and much more. We need it all, because culture
can link together and expand the growing battles for food,
housing, and jobs. In turn, these battles provide new audiences
and inspiration for artists. Use the "Culture Under Fire'' column
to plug in, to express yourself. Write: Culture Under Fire, c/o
People's Tribune, P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, Illinois 60654.
+----------------------------------------------------------------+

By Nancy Singham

CHICAGO -- Professor Dennis Brutus, internationally renowned South
African poet, writer and longtime political activist, is
celebrating his 70th birthday and his more than 50 years in the
struggle for freedom.

After being jailed by South Africa's apartheid regime during the
1960s, he was expelled from South Africa and came to the United
States, where he taught for a number of years at Northwestern
University. He is currently a professor of African Literature at
the University of Pittsburgh.

In the early 1980s, the U.S. government tried to deport him
because of his tireless and well-publicized anti-apartheid
activities. Widespread protests forced the government to drop its
deportation bid.

Several organizations in the Chicago area are paying tribute to
Dennis Brutus during the weekend of November 18-20. The theme of
the tribute is "A Luta Continua -- The Struggle Continues." In a
recent interview, Dennis stressed that the struggle inside and
outside South Africa is far from over, and indicated his
commitment to the fight for freedom.

He is currently helping organize the Coalition Against Global
Oppression (CAGO), which exposes institutions like the
International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and the "new
global monster," the World Trade Organization.

These groups dictate the political and economic agenda of the
international capitalist class. The campaign of CAGO is based on
the slogan "Fifty years is enough."

Dennis will be speaking about this campaign at the tribute events.
On Friday, November 18, the Guild Complex will host "An Evening
Celebrating the Struggle" to honor Dennis.

The event starts at 7 p.m. at the Evanson Hall, 1012 Noble at
Milwaukee in Chicago (donation at the door). On Sunday, November
20 at 5 p.m., the Africa Network will sponsor a tribute program at
Wilson Hall, Association House, 2150 W. North Avenue in Chicago. A
$5 donation includes refreshments. For further information,
contact Nancy Singham at 312-772-6397 (evenings).


******************************************************************
12. U.S. TRIES TO SILENCE FREE RADIO BERKELEY

BERKELEY, California -- Technological changes are making radio
broadcasting easier for the people to master and the government
doesn't like it.

On October 10, attorneys for Stephen Dunifer and Free Radio
Berkeley received notice (80 pages long) of the intention of the
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to seek an injunction
which would bar further broadcasts by Free Radio Berkeley.

Free Radio Berkeley is part of a rapidly growing movement which
uses inexpensive and low-power radio transmitters (from one-half
to 30 watts) to reach local communities.

Called micro-power broadcasting, this movement sees simple, easy-
to-use transmitters as the leaflet of the 1990s. In an era of
multinationally controlled mass media, micro-power broadcasting is
the voice of the people.

For four years, the government has been trying to squelch this
movement with escalating (but uncollected) fines.

Clearly, it sees broadcasting which anyone can do as a threat to
centralized control of information, ideas and culture.

Intimidation having failed, the FCC is abandoning its own
procedures and turning to the weight of the federal courts to
squelch this new and democratic media.

It won't happen.

For information and to show support in this significant battle,
contact Stephen Dunifer at Free Radio Berkeley at 510-644-3779 or
attorney Luke Hiken at 415-705-6460.


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13. LETTER TO THE EDITOR: MENTALLY ILL MISTREATED IN PRISON

Dear Editor:

Today, a friend passed me your paper, the People's Tribune, and I
was impressed with the issues being raised.

The issue I read was dated September 1994. [The writer refers to
"American Lockdown," a Special Prison Edition of the People's
Tribune.] I was particularly interested in an article written by
Sandra Gourley who chairs the Forensic Network of the Oklahoma
Alliance for the Mentally Ill.

You see, I have been on lock-up status since September 1987. At
one time, I was classified by the prison officials as being
dangerous. For three years, I was chained up every time I left my
cell, whether it was to go on visitation, recreation or shower.

Well, in August 1993, I saw Dr. ____. He diagnosed me as being
manic-depressive and prescribed 300 milligrams of lithium each
day. The medication has helped, but I continue to be held on lock-
up status.

The mentally ill inmates in South Carolina prisons do not get
proper mental health care. They are tagged as being dangerous and
left on lock-up status.

Thanks,

A South Carolina prisoner
Ridgeville, South Carolina


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14. START A FOOD NOT BOMBS GROUP IN YOUR COMMUNITY

You can begin feeding the hungry and working for peace by starting
a Food Not Bombs group in your community.

Food Not Bombs is a nonviolent all-volunteer network that provides
free, hot vegetarian meals and political support to low-income
people in over 50 communities in North America and Europe.

Food Not Bombs is empowering, rewarding and fun! Send $10 to Food
Not Bombs for our helpful 128-page book that includes the steps
for starting and maintaining a food recovery program, 30 recipes
for feeding 100 people and logos, flyers and letters you can
reprint.

Food Not Bombs, 3145 Geary Blvd. #12, San Francisco, California
94118; or call 1-800-884-1136 for free information. A project of
BACAT, 1095 Market St. #209, San Francisco California 94103


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15. WELFARE FOR THE RICH: WELFARE FRAUD BY AGRIBUSINESSMEN

By Leslie Willis

"We've lost everything," say disaster victims when they rummage
half-heartedly through the ruins of their homes. Some of these
ordinary people -- but not all of them -- will get some help from
the federal government after a flood, a fire, an earthquake or a
hurricane.

Not so for wealthy farmers in this country. "Needy"
agribusinessmen clean up. Since 1988, they have received more that
$8 billion in disaster aid.

They do this legally, and illegally, without too much risk, says a
recent New York Times article. For example, a California prune
farmer got his hands on $90,000 in aid, despite his annual income
of $9.6 million. Last year alone, $620,000 went to farmers with
incomes above $2 million.

In one Alabama county, the largest tomato grower ripped off
$99,432 after claiming that drought had damaged 152 acres. He
didn't bother to explain why he left his tomato crop in the field
to rot and why he didn't turn on his irrigation system. He was
just a sharp businessman, cashing in on falling tomato prices.
See, the aid check is based on tomatoes selling at $3.33 a box,
better money than the current market price of $2.50.

It seems that federal investigators have found $92.5 million worth
of "questionable" payments to rich farmers. So we ask you, who are
the real welfare queens in this country? Isn't this the welfare
fraud we must put a stop to?


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16 EVENT: TRIBUTE TO NATIVE AMERICANS

The fourth annual Tribute to Native Americans show will be held
November 23 at the Hot House in Chicago.

A poetry contest will be featured. The best poems about the
desecration of graves will be awarded cash prizes of $100, $50 and
$25. (Contestants must be present to win.)

Poems must be submitted by November 15 to: E. Donald Two-Rivers,
5441 W. Kenmore, Unit E, Chicago, Illinois 60640. Phone: 312-728-
6756.

Sponsored by the Illinois chapter of the American Indian Movement,
the Guild Complex and Jackfish Productions (a native-owned
production company).


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17. FOR A BROADER VIEW, READ _RALLY, COMRADES!_

The People's Tribune gives it to you every week -- the stories of
those who are fighting a political and economic system that breeds
poverty and injustice, along with proposals for moving the
struggle forward. But the movement for justice and security also
needs a paper that sums things up, offers the leaders of the
scattered struggles a deeper understanding of events in the world
and our country, and unites those leaders around a strategy for
victory. That paper is Rally, Comrades!/!Agrupemonos, Camaradas!,
published, like the People's Tribune, by the National Organizing
Committee. Each issue of Rally, Comrades! is published in both
Spanish and English.

In the October issue:

* Why America is moving toward becoming a police state and what we
must do about it.

* The real story about what is happening in Africa today (Part 1).

* Unemployment is up, but there's plenty of work to do: Toward a
program for the fight for jobs.

* How other movements have raised funds, and how the NOC can raise
the money it needs to succeed.


Don't miss these important articles. Subscribe today. Rally,
Comrades! is published six times a year. Subscriptions are $15 for
one year. For a free sample copy, write Rally, Comrades!, P.O. Box
477113, Chicago, Illinois 60647. To subscribe, send a check for
$15, made payable to Rally, Comrades!, to the same address.


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ABOUT THE PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE

The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE, published weekly 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: National Organizing Committee, P.O. Box 477113,
Chicago, IL 60647 (312) 486-0028


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