People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (01-00) Online Edition
TOPIC
01-00 PT Index
TEXT
BODY
******************************************************************
People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition)
Vol. 27 No. 1/ January, 2000
P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654
http://www.lrna.org
******************************************************************
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO is available on the World
Wide Web at
http://www.lrna.org
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
INDEX to the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO (Online Edition)
Vol. 27 No. 1/ January, 2000
Page One
Editorial
1. A NEW YEAR WITH A NEW VISION
News and Features
2. BATTLE OF SEATTLE: NO COMPROMISE WITH GLOBALIZATION
3. MARCH OF THE AMERICAS: AN UNERASABLE IMPRINT ON OUR CONSCIENCE
4. VOICES FOR NORTHTOWN 'SPRED THA NOOZ'
5. A WORKER'S LIFE: THROUGH A CHILD'S EYES
Spirit of the Revolution
6. WHY THE WORLD IS FALLING APART: THE IMPACT OF HIGH TECHNOLOGY
ON SOCIETY
Announcements, Events, etc.
7. MISCELLANY
[To subscribe to the online edition, send a message to pt-
[email protected] with "Subscribe" in the subject line.]
******************************************************************
We encourage reproduction and use of all articles except those
copyrighted. Please credit the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL
PUEBLO. The PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO depends on
donations from its readers -- your generosity is appreciated. For
free electronic subscription, send a message to
[email protected]
with "Subscribe" in the subject line. For electronic subscription
problems, e-mail
[email protected].
******************************************************************
TOPIC
01-00 Edit: A new year with a new vision
TEXT
******************************************************************
People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition)
Vol. 27 No. 1/ January, 2000
P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654
http://www.lrna.org
BODY
******************************************************************
1. EDITORIAL: A NEW YEAR WITH A NEW VISION
As we enter the year 2000, many anticipate it with fevered anxiety
hoping the Y2K scares will not come to fruition. Others, wondering
what possibilities the new year will bring, congregate with
friends and families to discuss new year's resolutions: a better
paying job, a better home, a better education, better health, and
much more. For revolutionaries all over the world, we look back at
what we've been able to accomplish, the many movements that have
dramatized the global discontent of the physically, mentally, and
economically malnourished poor and working classes of the world.
Massive social awareness and the violation of human rights have
spawned an array of spontaneous movements in order to secure the
immediate needs of the people. All of which mirrors the
willingness of the suffering, and those fighting against
unnecessary suffering, to unite and actively demand that their
government take responsibility for the citizens of their country
enslaved by corporate interests.
The global struggle is reflected in movements such as Chiapas,
Mexico, where the Zapatista Army of National Liberation has been
fighting since 1994 against the government and the federal army,
relentlessly demanding justice, democracy, and liberty for the
poor indigenous people of Mexico. Like Mexico, Brazil's political
and economic climate has made it impossible for poverty and
injustice to remain unaddressed. Last January's economic crisis in
Brazil has yet to relieve its citizens from the fear of successive
devaluation and hyperinflation. Ahead of most Latin American
countries, Brazil is known for its large and well-organized grass-
roots movements. The Landless Movement (MST) has staged protests
throughout the country in objecting to the government's economic
policy and demanding land reform. Along with MST, organizations
such as the National Land Reform and Settlement Institute (INCRA),
the Federation of Agricultural Workers and the "Voice of Freedom"
radio station, have to empower and mobilize the poor and working
classes.
Since the creation of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995,
there has been a global upheaval fighting to hamper the
development of the global market controlled by a handful of
billionaires. The latest demonstration against the WTO in Seattle
is reflective of an exponentially growing mass of poor, organizing
to make their presence known, to rip through the media barricades
and to force the world's rich to confront the invisible sector of
their society. Although demands may be met as a result of the
protest, the truth of the matter is that it's the capitalist
system that licenses the WTO, therefore, the root of the problem
is not so much the WTO, it is the system itself, which only
renders power to the rich.
Like the protest in Seattle against the WTO, the March of the
Americas served to expel the geographical barriers through the
alliance of the world's poor. Poor and homeless families from the
United States, Canada and Latin America marched 400 miles for an
entire month to protest against the U.S. government for violations
of economic human rights. The march helped to reinforce the social
awareness that has been conceived by the new class. People from
all over the world are being pulled by economic circumstances into
the program of the new class. How then do we bring together the
various activists from the many scattered spontaneous movements,
and foster a common vision in order to work toward the
reorganization of society around the new forces of production?
The creation of the Labor Party in 1996 was a necessary stage for
the revolutionary movement and a giant leap in the direction of
securing political independence for the employed and unemployed
working class. After meeting at its First Constitutional
Convention in November 1998, the convention of 1,300 delegates was
able to establish an organizational plan focused on education and
recruitment. The Labor Party therefore plays a crucial role in
facilitating the development of social awareness into social
consciousness within members of the working class by educating
them about their economic interests.
As we approach the new millennium, we are in a very strong
position for the introduction of new ideas that will help to
consolidate this new class. We must politically educate this new
class in order to restructure society as a whole, and reclaim the
power from the bourgeois supremacy. We must be aware that there
should be no fissure between various spontaneous movements, and it
is to our benefit that we work toward a common goal. By severing
relationships with other active movements rather than working
toward cohesion and understanding of who holds the power, we make
it easier for the ruling class to continue to dictate our lives as
we exhaust our bodies from fighting for the crumbs.
FOOTER
******************************************************************
This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO
(Online Edition), Vol. 27 No. 1/ January, 2000; P.O. Box 3524,
Chicago, IL 60654; Email:
[email protected];
http://www.lrna.org
Feel free to reproduce and use unless marked as copyrighted. The
PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO depends on donations from its
readers.
******************************************************************
TOPIC
01-00 Battle of Seattle: No compromise with globalization
TEXT
******************************************************************
People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition)
Vol. 27 No. 1/ January, 2000
P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654
http://www.lrna.org
BODY
******************************************************************
2. BATTLE OF SEATTLE: NO COMPROMISE WITH GLOBALIZATION
By Traviss Thomas
On Tuesday, November 30, 1999, tens of thousands of protesters
weathered the cold and the cops in Seattle to bring the truth
about free trade and the World Trade Organization (WTO) to the
international public's attention. Their success, in essence, means
that free trade will never be the same, though what it will be is
still in question.
But the anti-WTO demonstrations in Seattle actually began days
earlier. I had the opportunity to lend my voice to the multitude
at one such demonstration on Sunday, November 28. At least a
thousand protesters gathered at the top of Seattle's Capitol Hill
to march to the Gap clothing store in the downtown area. The
protest was organized to highlight the Gap's thousands of
sweatshops in over 50 countries. Organizers and participants
handed out fliers detailing the miserable conditions in which Gap
employees live and work in Third World nations. Global Exchange
lecturer and author Kevin Danaher was also on hand to encourage
the throngs of downtown shoppers to boycott the Gap and to demand
an end to sweatshops.
By design, the demonstration was about more than the Gap.
Organizers used the portable public-address system to remind
participants and passers-by that the abuses of the Gap are only
the effects of "free trade," carried out to its most extreme
extension as it is by the WTO. The demonstration was, therefore,
also used to encourage the crowds to attend Tuesday's anti-WTO
marches.
The protest which I attended on Sunday was a sign of what would
follow on Tuesday, but by then I would be back in Oklahoma
organizing one of the many solidarity demonstrations that took
place around the country that day. While non-violent protesters
were being forcibly dispersed by police in Seattle, activists at
the University of Oklahoma in Norman, and at many other
universities, were educating students about not only the threat
posed by the WTO itself, but also about the broader agenda of
those in power.
The WTO's program of total liberalization of trade restrictions is
only one example of the escalating struggle between the world's
rich and the rest of us. In the last 20 years, the automation of
industrial labor and the transition to a service economy in the
United States have been redrawing the lines in society. The small
class of super-rich who own society's resources and machinery now
have less and less need for the working and middle classes. The
trend that we are witnessing -- and of which the WTO is only one
example -- is that global capital is trying to remove any and all
barriers to its wealth and domination. In this way, the WTO's
program is really just the logical extension of an illegitimate
system, which places profits before human needs.
Though many of the thousands (possibly millions) around the world
who demonstrated against the WTO may not have perceived the WTO's
mission in such broad terms, the conflict which ensued in Seattle
shows the lengths to which the world's elites will go to protect
their positions. As radio journalist Amy Goodman pointed out on
Democracy Now!, the violent response of the Seattle police shows
that free trade and globalization, as the WTO sees them, will
require the application of a police state. In other words, the WTO
leaders do not want compromise. We must be equally vigilant and
steadfast about what we want.
The challenge to activists and all varieties of people who value
justice is to realize the conflict of interests being played out
over the WTO. The WTO is not a lone case of business elites "going
too far." Rather it is an example of the growing audacity of the
rich and powerful in carrying out their mission of total control
of the world. The success of protesters in Seattle at shutting
down the WTO talks does not mean that the struggle is won. That
day will come only when power has been decisively wrested from
those who now hold it and given over to the democratic control of
the people for the fulfillment of human needs.
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
LRNA WELCOMES PROTESTS AROUND WTO MEETING
The huge protests against the World Trade Organization's meeting
in Seattle were a reflection of a confrontation which is gathering
momentum -- the confrontation between the world's rich and the
world's poor.
The creation of the WTO in 1995 was one expression of a new
reality -- the development of a global market and of an
international ruling class in a world where production takes place
with qualitatively new productive forces -- electronics. This
reality is creating a worldwide proletariat. Today, the members of
this new proletarian class have more in common with each other
than they do with the ruling classes of their own country.
The WTO is often described as an "international economic Supreme
Court." Just as the U.S. Supreme Court issued decisions before the
U.S. Civil War which protected slavery, so today the WTO's
decisions strengthen the rule of a handful of billionaires. But
just as the Supreme Court was not the cause of the problem in the
early 19th century, so today the WTO is a symptom of the disease
and not the disease itself.
In the 19th century, decent people bitterly condemned the Supreme
Court's Dred Scott decision (which declared slavery to be legal
throughout the United States). At the same time, they worked to
abolish the property relations which made that decision possible
-- slavery. The opponents of slavery held meetings, wrote books,
gave speeches, and published newspapers to alert the American
people to the wrongs of slavery and the ominous rise in the power
of the slaveholders.
Those of us fighting to change a reality personified by the WTO
should learn from the opponents of slavery. While opposing every
move of our enemy to increase its power, we should also tell the
world that the problem can only be solved by abolishing the system
itself. Today, for the first time, the conditions exist to bring
that abolition about. The new electronic technology makes a world
of plenty possible, a society without hunger or backbreaking
labor, a life where the talents of people can be used to satisfy
the material, intellectual, spiritual and cultural needs of all.
The League of Revolutionaries for a New America seeks to join with
all who want to carry this message far and wide. The battle to
expose the WTO is one part of the fight to abolish the property
relations which the WTO protects, the fight to create a new world
where the distribution of the necessaries of life is organized
according to need.
-- League of Revolutionaries for a New America
FOOTER
******************************************************************
This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO
(Online Edition), Vol. 27 No. 1/ January, 2000; P.O. Box 3524,
Chicago, IL 60654; Email:
[email protected];
http://www.lrna.org
Feel free to reproduce and use unless marked as copyrighted. The
PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO depends on donations from its
readers.
******************************************************************
TOPIC
01-00 MARCH OF THE AMERICAS:
TEXT
******************************************************************
People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition)
Vol. 27 No. 1/ January, 2000
P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654
http://www.lrna.org
BODY
******************************************************************
3. MARCH OF THE AMERICAS: AN UNERASABLE IMPRINT ON OUR CONSCIENCE
By Liz Monge
There is no doubt the March of the Americas left an indelible mark
not only in our hearts, but in our consciousness and understanding
of poverty and its consequences worldwide. It wasn't only about a
march. It was about sharing experiences, history, and a commitment
to a struggle that affects all -- a struggle that must lead us to
a better world. During the march, participants shared their
personal experiences, organizational efforts, and created bridges
to deeper levels of understanding about each other and what we all
share in common.
The following narrative interview with Omayra Morales is such an
example. Crossing the Andean mountains from the city of Miraflores
in Colombia, Omayra joined the Kensington Welfare Rights Union to
demand justice for the poor. She is one of the main leaders of the
organization CODEVIMA (Comite por la Defensa de la Vida y Medio
Ambiente), an organization founded in 1994, which struggles to
protect the lives of cultivators of the coca leaf and the
environment of the Guarido zone in the jungles of Colombia. Their
main purpose is to educate the world about the struggles that come
with the "War on Drugs" and its impact on the people of Colombia.
Look for the future issue of the People's Tribune/Tribuno del
Pueblo that will share a more in-depth insight into that struggle.
PT/TP: How is it that you came to join the March of the Americas
and what has impressed you the most?
OMAYRA MORALES: My participation in this march is directly linked
to some work I did this past year with two other women from the
Andes, one from Peru, the other from Bolivia, and myself from
Colombia. We were doing a tour throughout the U.S. to raise
consciousness about the issues that plague our countries. We want
everyone to know about the violations that come with this "War on
Drugs" -- as it is called -- and how it affects our civil
populations. We believe that the only way to resolve these issues
is to invest socially in the people, not kill them or violate
their human rights.
It was in the process of this tour that we met the Kensington
Welfare Rights Union (KWRU). At this point I had already become
aware of issues in the United States, when, as a participant to
speak at the United Nations, I met Marsha Gurnet. She is an
organizer from the state of Vermont. She is a woman who, because
of her fight with AIDS and drug addiction, had her children taken
away. Today, she is in recovery and has gone clean for five years.
While under arrest, and at a point where she could not handle
anything, the government took her children away from her. When I
heard her story, I remembered mine as well. Although they are not
the same, we share a lot in common. Her as a "consumer," me as a
"producer."
It made me realize that in the middle of everything we get the raw
end of the deal, especially as women. Marsha cannot have her
children because the government took them away. I cannot have my
children because my house was burnt twice by the paramilitary
troopers and, in that last instance, my two children almost died
because they were inside. Being that I am on the death list of
those paramilitary troopers, I was forced into the decision of
sending my children to an unknown city for safety. From that
point, KWRU kept in contact and here we are.
What strikes me the most is the hidden poverty of white people in
this country. What terrifies all of us is to know that things are
so bad, and even though in Colombia things are awful, they are not
hidden. Here [in the U.S.], poverty is covered up. And at the same
time the contrasts are so striking. We never imagined we would see
the kinds of things we saw during this march. That areas could be
so horrible and in such poverty. Yet an example of contrast was
that there could be a house falling apart and a nice car parked in
the street with someone on a cellular. We had to look twice. The
hidden poverty we think of when we are not from the U.S., is often
thought of as affecting only black people or people of color. But
the reality is another. Whites are also part of that poverty. That
poverty that goes unnoticed by the rest of the world and is hidden
by this country. In Colombia, blacks and whites are poor all the
same. It now turns out that this country [the U.S.] also has an
issue of poverty in its midst. That was the biggest lesson of all.
FOOTER
******************************************************************
This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO
(Online Edition), Vol. 27 No. 1/ January, 2000; P.O. Box 3524,
Chicago, IL 60654; Email:
[email protected];
http://www.lrna.org
Feel free to reproduce and use unless marked as copyrighted. The
PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO depends on donations from its
readers.
******************************************************************
TOPIC
01-00 Voices for NorthTown 'spred tha nooz'
TEXT
******************************************************************
People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition)
Vol. 27 No. 1/ January, 2000
P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654
http://www.lrna.org
BODY
******************************************************************
4. VOICES FOR NORTHTOWN 'SPRED THA NOOZ'
By Marshall Blesofsky
LONG BEACH, California -- A few months ago, "Voices for NorthTown"
expressed a vision of a new America brought to the public by the
artists of North Long Beach working with the Long Beach chapter of
LRNA.
SPRED THA NOOZ, representing the new Hip-Hop generation,
pioneering a message of Hope in a society which makes young people
a throw-away generation, shared the stage with songstress Janice
Sanders, actor and poet JERALD LANCE FERRELL, poet Clyde Flowers,
and the SOPHIST PLAYERS.
Young people are plagued by an epidemic of violence brought on by
a society in which there is no longer a place for them. Gang
violence, police violence, the violence of neglect face today's
youth. But some young people are fighting back with a vision of a
new America. Sandwiched between Compton, California and what Snoop
Doggie Dogg calls the LBC (Long Beach City), NorthTown is a
neglected but essential part of the Long Beach community. Voices
for NorthTown demonstrates the need for the development of art and
music programs for and by our young people.
Voices for NorthTown attempts to send a message of what America
could be like if the technology used today for profit could be
used for the betterment of our neighborhoods and all our people.
It is a message of hope and of unity in the face of the incredible
power of the owners of globalized capital.
The Long Beach Chapter is planning another event.
The subject of that meeting will be 1000 to one. In the last 10
years, the city of Long Beach has spent $197 million of
redevelopment money on the downtown area and $200,000 on
NorthTown. This comes to 1000 to one. This money is used to
finance projects to promote tourism and trade in the downtown.
What they actually accomplish is lining the pockets of the already
rich at the expense of the poor. Find out about this and more from
2 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, January 30, 2000 at the Coffee Tavern, 539
E. Bixby Road.
FOOTER
******************************************************************
This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO
(Online Edition), Vol. 27 No. 1/ January, 2000; P.O. Box 3524,
Chicago, IL 60654; Email:
[email protected];
http://www.lrna.org
Feel free to reproduce and use unless marked as copyrighted. The
PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO depends on donations from its
readers.
******************************************************************
TOPIC
01-00 A Worker's Life
TEXT
******************************************************************
People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition)
Vol. 27 No. 1/ January, 2000
P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654
http://www.lrna.org
BODY
******************************************************************
5. A WORKER'S LIFE: THROUGH A CHILD'S EYES
By Alma Ramirez
Daddy always wanted us to travel. When he was home he would say,
"Some day we'll all go to Hawaii and sit on the beach and sip on
tropical drinks." Mama and I would laugh. We laughed and imagined
the summer coastal heat tanning our Midwest skin. I think of that
now as we travel to see him. I don't think he planned for our
journeys to take place in this matter -- him sitting there so
tired. I think he wished things could've been different. I sure
miss him. He's there, and mama and I are here, and the car ride
seems hours away.
When we finally arrive, mama and I sign in to see him. The place
always seems so cold and from the distance we hear loud sounds of
machinery. The wailing and the piercing sounds always cause mama
to cover her ears. I don't think she likes this place. She would
rather have daddy at home with us.
We don't go to church anymore, there's just no time. Every Sunday
is dedicated to seeing daddy. But the visits, they last only about
half an hour. At least that's how mama says it when she tells
daddy, "It's ridiculous how we get to see you for only half an
hour." For me, I'm just glad that I get to sit on his lap again.
He carries me, and he hugs mama and cries when his arms are
wrapped around the only two people that keep him sane.
I watch him. His fingernails darkened from the dust of labor. His
hair also whitened, either from the dust or old age. I think it's
because he worries about us. He tells mama, "Just a few more weeks
until the mandatory overtime slows down, and I'll be home on the
weekends." And, when the words come out of his mouth, mama's head
falls to his shoulder. She cries and daddy wipes the tears.
I watch the other men and their families, and I think they're sad
too. They hold on to each other, and sometimes I hear the children
and wives sob. But me, I'm just glad I get to see daddy on
Sundays, and he's glad also. He doesn't let his worries take away
from our time.
We sit and eat the lunch that mama and I carefully packed for this
Sunday. It's daddy's birthday and we cooked all his favorites.
While daddy watches the timekeeper, mama and I put the candles on
the cake. We begin to sing, "Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birth
.." and the timekeeper, the man who controls our half-hour, pulls
on the buzzer and daddy's birthday is over. He blows out his
candles, all but one. I watch the flaming candle melt into the
whiteness of the cake, and I wish a wish for daddy. I tightly
close my eyes, "I wish daddy's work would let him come home," and
with all my 7-year-old might I blow out the last candle.
[A member of the PT/TP board wrote this short narrative. She was
inspired to write it after hearing of an actual situation from an
auto-parts supply factory in Norwalk, Ohio.]
FOOTER
******************************************************************
This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO
(Online Edition), Vol. 27 No. 1/ January, 2000; P.O. Box 3524,
Chicago, IL 60654; Email:
[email protected];
http://www.lrna.org
Feel free to reproduce and use unless marked as copyrighted. The
PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO depends on donations from its
readers.
******************************************************************
TOPIC
01-00 Spirit: Why the World Is Falling Apart:
TEXT
******************************************************************
People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition)
Vol. 27 No. 1/ January, 2000
P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654
http://www.lrna.org
BODY
******************************************************************
6. SPIRIT OF THE REVOLUTION: WHY THE WORLD IS FALLING APART: THE
IMPACT OF HIGH TECHNOLOGY ON SOCIETY
by Jesse Ballinger, West Los Angeles Chapter of LRNA
According to Webster, technology is "the totality of the means
employed to provide objects necessary and desirable for human
sustenance and comfort."
Technology is anything that makes human beings more productive or
their quality of life higher. It is also the current state of
development of the means of production.
All previous technological revolutions provided humanity with
labor-assisting devices of increasing productivity. The
technological revolution that we are at the beginning of today,
which is centered around the microchip, is without precedent in
the history of man in that it has provided us with a labor-
replacing device, that is to say that the microchip is replacing
people in production.
Let's look at society. A society is organized around its means of
production. It dictates how the things that are produced get
distributed, what the rules are in life; it sets the property
relations. Various educational, legal, political, military, and
religious institutions come together in a society to help define
and nurture a morality that will not threaten the property
relations.
But what happens when the means of production are fundamentally
and forever altered? Society must be fundamentally and forever
altered as well. The process of destruction of the old society,
which we see all around us today, is the beginning of this change,
clearing the ground for the construction of a new one.
What are some of the examples of this destruction? The explosion
of homelessness, imprisonment, and bankruptcy are some. The
decline in quality education is another. The ripping down of the
social safety net and talk of dismantling Social Security are
others.
Automation receives zero in the form of wages. Since we are being
forced to now compete with automation, the rest of our lives will
be spent watching wages fall toward this level. Automation is
driving wages toward zero. Poverty is no longer something that
occurs on the fringe of society.
Author and Cornell University Professor Thomas Hirschl estimates
that 58 percent of all Americans who are alive today will
experience poverty in their lifetime. Production must be
distributed. Yet, as wages fall and greater and greater amounts of
the world's work are shifted onto the shoulders of automation, it
should be clear that money will not be in the hands of the
majority of America's and the world's people to obtain the
necessities of living.
This, then, spells an end to the system of distributing the
necessities of life on the basis of money and opens the door for
the only remaining way to distribute these necessities -- need.
Production with less and less human labor, more and more demands
distribution without money. Only a communist society can do this.
If we like, we can look upon the word communist as a contraction--
like the words "can't" or "won't" -- it is just a shorter way of
saying "communityist." Simply put, a communist believes that
nothing should come before the needs of the community.
The history of mankind could be summed up as the history of
managed scarcity. "How do we distribute when there is not enough
to go around for everyone?" becomes the question around whose
answer the issue of property relations has been resolved.
Today, high technology is wiping scarcity from the face of our
planet like a spilled drink off the bar at closing time. I want to
make clear that this technological revolution is destroying the
very thing "scarcity" that gave rise to privilege and class in the
beginning. It is impossible to overstress the importance of this
for it is the very essence of our times. The concepts of
"scarcity" and "wealth" become more and more meaningless as
humanity turns to face the dawning of absolute abundance. The
question to be decided by the coming generations is, how do we
distribute this absolute abundance?
Now, let us put aside talk of the historical importance and
implications of this technological revolution and let us talk
about what is right. Did Christ not implore us in the Gospels:
"I was hungry and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty and you gave
me to drink; was a stranger and you took me in; was naked and you
clothed me; sick and you visited me; imprisoned and you came to
see me." (Matthew 25:35-36)
How on earth are we going to give food to the hungry, some three
billion of the world's people now, if we leave these new
computerized, roboticized, super-productive means of production in
private hands? The intelligent and serious mind begs for a real
answer to that question.
Everywhere you look there is a disaster of the spirit. A
nationwide collapse of our moral center. A collective unanswered
yearning to find something we can believe in.
The ancient cultures of the world held to a time-tested truth,
"What you resist, persists." It is time to stop resisting and
accept the unreformable evil of this system so that we may turn
our energy to the birthing of an altogether new thought for the
world. We must be the prime mover of a new consciousness and a new
morality for the American people. Many centuries ago, the Buddha
taught:
We are what we think
All that we are arises
With our thoughts
With our thoughts
We make the world
What is our thought today? Is our thought, only a world without
hungry children and without people living on the street is worth
living in? Is our thought, only a world with clean skies, oceans,
and lands is worth living in? Is it our thought, only a world full
of optimism and genuine excitement for the future is worth living
in? Is it our thought that the fight for such a world is the true
path to a life successfully lived? Is it our thought, what you
have done unto the least of these you have done also unto me? Is
it our thought, from each according to their ability, to each
according to their need? If we want it, then we must do much more
than visualize a better world, we must stalk it -- in our minds.
In periods of momentous transformation, like the one we are in
right now, everything depends on what the people think.
We must be the creators of a new human being. A human being that
refuses to accept that things have to be this way, that knows
there is a better way and has some idea how to get there.
Technology is destroying the world as we know it, and is affording
us the opportunity to build it all over again on a new, higher,
this time human foundation. If not this, what else can you imagine
we were put here to do? I ask you, does a higher calling exist?
In 1999, with the entire economy on the verge of fiscal collapse,
the fight for this new world is the fight for economic communism
-- the distribution of the necessities of life on the basis of
need -- and such a fighter for this world, like millions upon
millions of the world's people before her, is a communist.
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
CLARIFICATION: the Spirit of the Revolution column in the December
issue of the People's Tribune/Tribuno de Pueblo was written by
Sandy Perry.
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
FOOTER
******************************************************************
This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO
(Online Edition), Vol. 27 No. 1/ January, 2000; P.O. Box 3524,
Chicago, IL 60654; Email:
[email protected];
http://www.lrna.org
Feel free to reproduce and use unless marked as copyrighted. The
PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO depends on donations from its
readers.
******************************************************************
TOPIC
01-00 Miscellany
TEXT
******************************************************************
People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition)
Vol. 27 No. 1/ January, 2000
P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654
http://www.lrna.org
BODY
******************************************************************
7. MISCELLANY
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
I want to subscribe to the People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo.
___ Please send me a one-year individual subscription. My check
or money order for $20 is enclosed.
___ Please send me a one-year institutional subscription. My
check or money order for $25 is enclosed.
Name
Address
City/State/Zip
Phone
E-mail
Send this coupon to: People's Tribune, P.O. Box 3524, Chicago,
Illinois 60654
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
I want to join the League of Revolutionaries for a New America.
___ Send me a bundle of 5__ 10__ 25__ 50__ 100__ People's
Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo to get out in my city. (Bundles are
only 15 cents per copy)
___ Send me a membership kit so I can build a chapter of the
League of Revolutionaries for a New America in my city.
___ I want a speaker in my city. Send me a "Speakers for a New
America" brochure.
___ I want to make a financial donation.
Send this coupon to: LRNA, P.O. Box 477113, Chicago, Illinois
60647
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
Who is the League of Revolutionaries for a New America? We are
people from all walks of life who refuse to accept that there
should be great suffering in a world of great abundance. Together,
we can inspire people with a vision of a cooperative world where
the full potential of each person can contribute to the good of
all. Together, we can get our message of hope out on radio and
television, in places of worship, union halls, and in the streets.
We don't have all the answers, but we are confident that together
we can free the minds of the millions of people who can liberate
humanity. Join us!
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
"VIACOM proposes takeover of People's Tribune Radio"
Not really, we wouldn't let them anyway! But if you want something
other than what the corporate media has to offer, then tune in to
People's Tribune Radio. You can listen to the program at
http://www.ptradio.org. For a free copy to take to your community
radio station, call: 800-691-6888 or e-mail
[email protected] or
[email protected]
FOOTER
******************************************************************
This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO
(Online Edition), Vol. 27 No. 1/ January, 2000; P.O. Box 3524,
Chicago, IL 60654; Email:
[email protected];
http://www.lrna.org
Feel free to reproduce and use unless marked as copyrighted. The
PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO depends on donations from its
readers.
******************************************************************
TOPIC
01-00 Speakers: Building Class Unity
TEXT
******************************************************************
People's Tribune/Tribuno del Pueblo (Online Edition)
Vol. 27 No. 1/ January, 2000
P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, IL 60654
http://www.lrna.org
BODY
******************************************************************
8. THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE NOT RACIST: BUILDING CLASS UNITY
African American History Month Speakers February 2000
TOPICS AND DISCUSSION POINTS:
* How Do We Move From Racial Division to Class Unity?
* March of the Americas: The Poor of the Hemisphere Fight for
Economic Human
Rights
* Why a Police State is Taking Over Civil Government and the Role
of New
Ideas of Cooperation
* Racist Killings vs. The Struggle for Class Unity
* African American Liberation: Why Class Unity is the Path of
Progress
* Why the Black Bourgeoisie is the Worst Enemy of the Black Masses
* Why the Poor Represent Hope for a Totally New World
* The American People are Not Racist: Racism is a Terrible Problem
* What is a Revolutionary? What do Revolutionaries Do?
* Why it's Time to Redefine 'Work'
* The Poor Leading the Fight for Quality Public Education in the
Electronic Era
* Understanding Globalization: The Fight for a World Based on
Cooperation, Not Competition of wealth by need
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
SPEAKERS for a NEW AMERICA
* Ethel Long-Scott - Director, Women's Economic Agenda Project
* Nelson Peery - Author, "Black Fire: The Making of an American
Revolutionary"
* Kiesha Smith - Student, LRNA Organizer
* Galen Tyler - Organizer, March of the Americas and of the
Kensington Welfare Rights Union
* General Baker - Labor Leader and Chair, Steering Committee,
League of Revolutionaries for a New America
* Brenda Mathews - Poet, Playwright about Teens in Inner-city
Schools
* William Watkins, Ph.D.Professor, Writer on Corporate Control of
Education in America
* Marian Kramer - Co-Chair, National Welfare Rights Union
Our speakers bring a vision of a unity in the struggle for a new
cooperative society. Send for a free brochure or check out our web
site http:// www.mcs.net/~speakers.
Call 800-691-6888, e-mail
[email protected], or write People's
Tribune Speakers Bureau, P.O. Box 3524, Chicago, Illinois 60654
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
Nelson Peery Speaking Tour
Nelson Peery, author of "Black Fire: The Making of an American
Revolutionary" and founding member of LRNA, will tour California
during African American History Month in February, 2000. To book
speaking engagements at churches, colleges, community and youth
groups, call 800-691-6888 or e-mail
[email protected]
+----------------------------------------------------------------+
FOOTER
******************************************************************
This article originated in the PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO
(Online Edition), Vol. 27 No. 1/ January, 2000; P.O. Box 3524,
Chicago, IL 60654; Email:
[email protected];
http://www.lrna.org
Feel free to reproduce and use unless marked as copyrighted. The
PEOPLE'S TRIBUNE/TRIBUNO DEL PUEBLO depends on donations from its
readers.
******************************************************************
