PROGRESSIVE STUDENT NEWS
A PUBLICATION OF THE PROGRESSIVE STUDENT NETWORK
CONTACT PSN ON INTERNET AT [email protected]

*************************************************
VOLUME 9, NUMBER 4   OCTOBER-DECEMBER 1992
*************************************************

The Progressive Student News is a compilation of stories written by
members of the student movement across the nation. The Progressive
Student News  will not intentionally publish anything of a racist, sexist or
homophobic nature, and is committed to respecting the dignity, self-
determination and autonomy of all those groups involved in the struggle
for fundamental change.

PRODUCTION AND CIRCULATION
Christopher Babiarz  * Scott Boswell * Mark Hamann * Shani Rachel
Handel * Robert McClure * Joe Mingle * John E. Peck * Kristin Zeitzer

CONTRIBUTORS
Babz Babiarz * Silvia Baraldini * Scott A. Boswell * Marilyn Buck * J.
Burger * Dan Grunfeld * Mark Hamann * Shani Rachel Handel * Kawone
Harris * Christine Jones * Erik Joslyn * Jaan Laaman * Meredith Lerner *
Robert McClure * Kate Misurek * Joe Mingle * Tom Pearce * John E. Peck *
Susan Rosenberg * David Sharp * Bob Stint * Amie Weinberg * Laura
Whitehorn

THE PROGRESSIVE STUDENT NEWS is published quarterly by the
National Progressive Student Network. Four thousand copies are
circulated from more than 40 campuses in the US. Bulk copies of the News
and individual subscriptions (see page 7) are available at reasonable rates
(free to prisoners in the US). Drop us a line at the address below. Large
supplies are kept at these outposts: University of Wisconsin/Madison;
University of Minnesota/Minneapolis; University of Illinois/Chicago-
Circle; University of Illinois/Urbana-Champaign; Illinois State
University/Bloomington-Normal; Illinois Wesleyan University;
Northwestern University; University of Louisville; Kent State University;
University of Pennsylvania/Philadelphia; George Washington University-
DC; Baylor University; University of Louisiana-Lafayette; University of
Houston; Georgetown University-DC.

YOUR STORIES of fewer than 1000 words are welcome in the Progressive
Student News.  Coverage or analysis of campus activism is preferred.
Stories should be clearly hand-printed or typed on double spaced lines.
At the top of page one, please include the authors name and affiliation as
they desire them to appear in print.  We would also appreciate two
descriptive headlines (1 short, 1 longer) that succinctly encapsulate the
story.  At the bottom of the last page, please include a brief (1 to 3
sentence) biography of the author.  Consider including a graphic to run
with the story as well (see below).  If you've taken the time to write the
story on a computer, please save us the effort of retyping it by submitting
a diskette (Macintosh or IBM compatible..... please use tabs (not spaces) to
indent paragraphs and indicate the program used to create the file on the
label).  We can not guarantee publication, but someone will try to make
contact.  Deadline for the Jan./March. '93 issue is Dec. 8 for hard copy (i.e.
faxed, handwritten, or similar stories that will need to be keyed into the
computer).  The deadline for items submitted on a diskette is Dec. 15.

Graphics are always appreciated.  Newspaper print is kinder (more
forgiving) to pieces that are black-and-white and of high contrast.  Avoid
using the color blue (it is invisible to the reproduction process) or
transparent tape (which is not invisible to the reproduction process)
unless, of course, this is the desired effect.  Your works should be marked
clearly on the reverse with the artists name (as it is to be published), a brief

description  (including dates, location, persons depicted etc.... this is
especially important for photos), and an address (if you want the originals
to be returned).  Deadline is Dec. 15.

Money is always in short supply.  Subscriptions and advertising do not
come close to covering the costs associated with producing the paper
(~$700 an issue for supplies, printing and postage).  We are an all
volunteer team (although some of us actually end up paying for the
privilege:  As we went to press with the issue you hold in your hands, our
bank account was tapped down to $5 and four of us had to chip in $20 a
piece to pay off the printing bill from the last issue.  Some how we need to
scounge up another $200 to mail this issue to our subscribers and send
bulk copies to our affiliates.... Oh yeah, how could I forget... we'll also
need to pay off the bill for this issue by the end of the year).  But hey!
Come through with a donation of $25 or more and we'll give you a
commemorative Gulf War T-shirt (Factory sealed and beautiful..... just out
of date so we have trouble selling them).  All contributors will be
gratefully acknowledged in the upcoming issue.  Deadline is Dec. 31.

DISPLAY ADVERTISEMENTS are accepted at $5 per column inch.
Deadline for the Jan./March. '93 issue is Dec. 15, 1992 for a letter of intent
and Dec. 31 for hard copy. The News staff will happily design your ad for
a nominal fee.

Send all correspondence to:
Progressive Student News
731 State Street
Madison, WI 53703.
Phone (608) 257-7562
email: [email protected]

Printed with soybean ink on recycled paper by the University of
Wisconsin-Extension Printing Services, whose workers are represented by
AFSCME Local 171.

) 1992 by the National Progressive Student Network. In the interest of
furthering the Revolu... er, ahh Movement, contents of The Progressive
Student News may be republished without the written consent of an
editor. Please give an appropriate citation.


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What is the PSN?
*************************************************

       The 1990's promise to be an era of continued and growing activism
among students across the country.  Now more than ever students need to
find common ground and share both their experiences and resources to
have the greatest impact on the future of this nation.  The Progressive
Student Network is committed to being a part of these struggles and
building the ties among the growing movement of progressive youth.
Since its founding in 1980, the Progressive Student Network has always
sought to build the student movement both as a national force and at the
local level.  Rooted in the anti-nuke, anti-draft, and environmental
movements of the late 1970's, PSN has been a part of many of the struggles
in which students were active throughout the last decade.
    The PSN seeks to reach out to student activists and build the movement
through many of its activities.  The PSNews is intended not only to reach
out to new activists but also inform all of us about the important battles
that students are waging across America.  PSN also builds ties among
students on different campuses by sponsoring annual meetings,
conferences, and demonstrations.  Every fall, the PSN organizes a
conference for student activists to educate themselves and each other
about issues of common concern [see story page 1; registration
form/poster below].  In the spring, PSN hosts an annual membership
meeting to analyze the conditions that the movement faces and strategize
about the work we are doing.  At these meetings, all members of affiliated
groups have the opportunity to have their views and ideas heard and
discussed.
    Between the fall conference and the Spring membership meeting, PSN
has Steering Committee meetings in both the winter and late summer.
PSN's Steering Committee is composed of two representatives from each
local affiliate who meet to discuss upcoming activities, future projects, and
other topics.  Everyone is welcome to attend these meetings which are
intended to make sure all of us stay in contact between other annual
events.  PSN also tries to build support for national demonstrations and
events that occur throughout the year.  Many of these provide further
opportunities for students from different campuses to meet and forge
stronger ties.
    At all of its events and activities, PSN attempts to strengthen ties within

the different sectors of our movement by providing space for caucuses.
For example, PSN has consistently had meetings of a women's caucus at
our conferences and events.  This caucus allows women from different
places to share experiences and unite to fight against male supremacy not
only in society but also within our movement itself.  The caucuses are
usually accompanied by an alternative group for other participants.  The
men's alternative group meetings have often provided a unique
opportunity for male activists to learn about the oppression of women and
examine their own attitudes and actions.  Currently, PSN has active queer,
women's and people of color caucuses.  Besides acting as a source of
empowerment for their members, these caucuses also often provide
crucial leadership to the larger organization.
    PSN is open to any and all student groups and activists who share our
goals of struggling for change and building the student movement.  If you
are not already a part of this growing force, we'd like to invite you to come
on board.  PSN is unique both because of its long history of activism and
because it is a network of autonomous groups.  There is no centralized
organization telling you what to do or think, every group has the final say
over what they do and how.  But what PSN does do is to put you in touch
with literally hundreds of other activists across the country who are part
of the growing student movement.  Through the network you can learn
from others who are involved in the same struggles and share your
experiences and ideas.  Participation in PSN can not only provide
inspiration and strength but also give you a sense of the struggle beyond
your campus.
    If you haven't already, affiliate now with the Progressive Student
Network.  All that is required is the interest and desire to plug into the
larger movement and a nominal affiliation fee (waivers available).  All
affiliates and members receive the PSNews to distribute to activists in
their area, notice of upcoming meetings and conferences, and other
mailings as they are needed.  Affiliates also have the right to send
representatives to steering committee meetings and help define the goals
and plans of the organization.  As we  enter the 90's, students are once
again called to join the fight for peace and social justice, don't fight alone;
join the PSN....................



*************************************************
Stop the Masquerade!
*************************************************


George Washington University PSU
Marvin Center Box 6
800 21st Street NW
Washington D.C. 20052

Fellow Student activists and Transient Revolutionaries,

       Screw the treats!  Come to  DC on Halloween and play a trick on
George and his buddies!  You are cordially invited (begged) to attend the
Fall 1992 Progressive Student Network Conference (Oct. 31 & Nov. 1) in
Washington DC at the George Washington University  It is time to stop
the masquerade.  It's time for Reproductive Freedom!  It's time to
recognize 500 years of resistance!
       The conference is an excellent opportunity for student activists
throughout the country to share ideas and experiences, network with
other students, educate ourselves, and have lots and lots of fun!  There
will be a panel discussion entitled "Racism: From Columbus 1492 to LA
1992," a variety of interesting workshops [see sidebar], a wimin's caucus, a
queer caucus, a people of color caucus, and a protest to  "discover" the
White House.  Anyone with other workshop topics, or who wants to
facilitate a workshop, please contact us.
       The Conference will be held at the Marvin Center (see address
above). The fee is $10 for pre-registration [see form on page 2] and $12 at
the door.  This includes breakfast both days.  We have arranged housing
for Friday and Saturday night (Hillel Center, corner of 23rd and H St.,
NW) so bring a sleeping bag, a few bucks and arrive between 11 pm and 3
am (after-hours arrivals contact the GWU PSU office when you get into
town 202-994-7284).
       A party is planned!  Saturday evening the G.W. Lesbian Gay and
Bisexual Alliance are having their Annual Halloween Bash.  There will be
funky music, tasty food and drinks.  Special PSN prices have been
arranged:  All you can eat & drink $5.
       Wear your costumes, pack your Jack-O-Lanterns, and bring
everyone you know on your broom so we can spook the politicians out of
Washington!

                               Questions or deed information,
                               please call us:  (202) 994-7284

                                       Study & Struggle,
                                       G. W.  PSU

                               P.S.    Don't keep this Conference a secret!


Tentative Agenda

Saturday October 31, 1992

8:30    Registration

9:30    Introduction

9:45    Keynote speaker (TBA)

Panel Discussion:
Racism: From Columbus 1492
to Los Angeles 1992

                       *Adrian Gurza
                       Consejo  Estudiantio  Universitario de Mexico
                       *Rukiya Dillahunt
                       Black Workers for Justice
                       *Juliet Ucelli
                       Italian-Americans Against Columbus
                       *Angela Sembrano
                       Committee in Solidarity with the People of El
Salvador

11:15           Workshop Session I

12:30           Lunch

1:15            Gather, pre-demo info.

1:45            Demonstration:  "Discover"  the White House

2:45            Queer caucus  & Alt. Group

4:15            Workshop Session II

5:45            People of Color Caucus &  Alternative group

7:15            Reassemble, evening info.

7:30            Dinner

9:00            Halloween Dance
                       Sponsored by the G.W. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual
Alliance.                       Benefits the GW Gay Scholarship Fund.

Sunday November 1, 1992

9:00            Student Speaker (TBA)

9:30            Wimmin's Caucus & Alt. Grp

10:30           Workshop Session III

11:45           Closing Session/Caucus Reports

12:30           PSN Steering Committee

GO HOME


Tentative Workshops
(Have another workshop topic? Want to facilitate a workshop? Please
contact us)




Anti-Racism
*Students Fight Police Brutality
Mnpls PSO; Champaign/Urbana PSO
*Native Am. Struggles& Student Support Louisville, KY PSL
*Struggling to Diversify University Faculty Louisville, KY PSL
*Rap Music in the 1992 Election:
Racism and youth culture
Scott MX Turner
*Wining an African-American Studies Prog
GW BPU & GW PSU
*Student Response to Rodeny King and the LA Rebellion
ISU Bloomington/Normal




Reproductive Rights
*Building a Campus Pro-Choice Movement UI-Chicago PSN
*Reproductive Rights & the Supreme Court Facilitator Needed
*Menstural Extraction
GW Women's Issues Now




The Environment
*Environmental Strategies for the 90's: Beyond Recycling
Facilitator Needed
*Ecofeminism
GW  SEA
*Environmental Racism
Madison PSN




Various Workshops
*Students and Labor Organizing
AFL-CIO Organizing Institute, DC
*How to  Organize a Student Newspaper Madison PSN
*Political Prisoners in the US
Madison PSN; Irish-Am. Stdnt Org.,Chicago
*DC in '93: The March on Washington for Queer Rights
Facilitator Needed
*NAFTA: What it Really Means
INSTEAD
*Socialism
J. Leazer
*Irish American Student Association Minneapolis


*************************************************
Why decommemorate Columbus?
As if you didn't already know!
*************************************************

The following statement was Adopted by the Progressive Student
Network National Steering Committee August 9, 1992.

A Legacy Of Pain
       The Progressive Student Network is calling upon students at all
universities, colleges, and high schools, to Decommemorate Columbus
and the so-called "Discovery of America."  We do not believe that the
arrival of Christopher Columbus and the terror and pain he brought to
indigenous peoples, the practice of enslaving Africans that followed, or
the forced migration of peasants and working people from Europe itself, is
something to be celebrated.  The Legacy of Christopher Columbus is one
of greed, rape, theft, genocide, enslavement, and oppression.  There are no
positive aspects to what Columbus and his supporters who held power in
Europe did in the Americas.

They Should Be Ashamed
       Today we live in a society where there are those who are
celebrating the arrival of Columbus to these shores.  The White House,
Congress, and other levels of government are spending millions of dollars
of our tax money to celebrate.  Many corporations and business interests
are spending hundreds of thousands to celebrate.  All sorts of museums
and universities are spending education dollars on parties to promote the
500 year anniversary of "The Discovery."  We need to challenge this
celebration.  It is the continuation of a mind set which places a priority on
accumulation of material wealth and not on human relations.

Racism And Lies
What is at the core of the "celebrations" is Racism.  Racism against African-
Americans, Puerto Ricans, Chicanos, Asians, and Indigenous Peoples
throughout the Americas, north to south, east to west, and beyond.  Those
who celebrate the European conquerors conveniently ignore the
contributions  of Oppressed Nationalities to our current society.
Celebrating Columbus today means celebrating all that is "WHITE" about
the current society within the borders of the U.S. The message is loud and
clear that WHITE = GOOD.  The legacy of Europeans is held up high,
despite the fact that it is a twisted, revisionist history that is propagated.

Twisting Reality
       Italian Americans, for instance, are flooded with propaganda about
the great achievements of Christopher Columbus and his contributions to
the establishment  of the "New World."  Italians are told of his great
navigation skills (he was lost), his fearless leadership (his crew almost
mutinied), and his religious devotion (enslaving humans in the name of
the Holy Trinity).  Italian Americans, who faced discrimination in the U.S.
when they first arrived and were called WOPS (With Out Papers), are
being asked to forget their history and adopt a "new and improved"
version.  Children are forced to behold Columbus as a role model to be
emulated.  Will children be asked to celebrate the legacy of Al Capone in
another 450 years?

The Legacy Today
       Today the main question in U.S. society is still Racism, or National
Oppression.  Those who are not white experience the most brutal lives and
are victimized on a daily basis.  Oppressed Nationalities, in this society,
are the most highly exploited in the work place, the most often ostracized
in social settings, the least likely to have health insurance, the most
ignored in the college classroom, and the most likely to be harassed,
attacked, and murdered by the police.  This is an every day occurrence in
the America "founded" by Christopher Columbus.  In America today, the
lives of Oppressed Nationalities are seen as only worth as much as they
can produce for someone else's profit.  Not much different than 500 years
ago, only gold is not the only commodity.

From Columbus To Rodney King
       The LA Rebellion in the wake of the Rodney King Verdict was the
only avenue of response open to the disenfranchised.  The burning and
looting in LA by African-Americans, Chicanos, Mexicans, whites, and
political refugees from El Salvador was a response to the Columbus
Legacy.  When working and poor people have their lives looted on a daily
basis and are degraded by bosses, societal institutions, the government,
and the police because of their nationality and skin color, they respond in
the only way available to them.  The only way that they will be heard.
People did not burn down "their" neighborhoods, destroy their own
property, set flame to their own homes.  They mainly burned down Radio
Shack, Standard Oil, and McDonald's.  The Rulers who celebrate
Columbus in 1992, were not dismayed when the cops who brutalized
Rodney King were let off.  They only got worried when they saw property
destroyed.  People adjusted the tax system so there was no loop hole for
the rich this time.

Students Respond To LA
       On the campuses we saw student marches, rallies, and
demonstrations at police stations.  Most student protests were lead by
African-American students with other students following their leadership.
This was the biggest response on campuses since the Anti-
Apartheid/Divestment Movement of the early 1980's.  Thousands of
students turned out to protest the racist system in the US.  Students in
Atlanta marched through the subway system smashing store fronts.  High
school students in Chicago marched miles to hold a spontaneous rally
downtown.  An overwhelmingly white campus in Iowa turned out over
5000 people to protest the Verdict.  African-American  students at
Northwestern held a march from their campus to a community center and
sent a care package to LA.  800 students at Illinois State University
marched to the police station to confront police on several issues of local
racist attacks, including police brutality against African-American
students.  The slogan "No Justice, No Peace" rang throughout the land and
students spoke to linking the past with the present.  As one African-
American woman at Illinois State said in a speech at police headquarters,
"It's just like the Progressive Student Union says 'Fuck Columbus, He Was
Lost!'"

Continue The Fight!
       We are asking students to join the Progressive Student Network in
protesting the myth of Columbus.  We are launching the Campaign to
Decommemorate Columbus:  Fighting Racism from 1492 to 1992 and
beyond!  We are asking students to organize on the campus to change
institutional racism, to relate the campus struggles to the community, and
to study the real story of Columbus.  We must struggle to force changes in
the racist power structure on campus.  If we struggle, we can win!


*************************************************
AIM counts coup in '92
*************************************************

by Tom Pearce
Kentukiana Native American Support Group, Louisville, KY


At this year's American Indian Movement Powwow, a historic gathering
took place.  Many AIM warriors, male and female, were reunited after
many years of separation following the FBI's Counter Intelligence
Program (COINTELPRO) assault to divide them.  People who fought at
Wounded Knee, took over the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington,
and occupied Alcatraz in 1968 are today throwing blood on the legacy of
Columbus.  It was humbling to see the Bellecourts and the Means together
in solidarity.  At the AIM conferences, Clyde Bellecourt spoke of a new
unity echoed by Russell Means, Charlene Teeters, Bill Means, Vernon
Bellecourt, Mike Haney, and others.  Vernon Bellecourt said that "there is
no way I was going to miss this meeting."  There was an excitement in the
air that has been brewing since the beginning of 1992.  This gathering was
similar to the one in Louisville which brought Dennis Banks (co-founder
of AIM), Vernon Bellecourt, and Mike Haney together for the first time in
many years.  There is a sense in the movement that it doesn't matter if the
rest of America is supporting us,  that the important fact is that we're
supporting each other.  The circle is beginning to mend and the old
wounds are slowly beginning to heal.
       Across the country there are many who have, with establishment
posts, decided to stand alone and march for Columbus or collaborate with
football franchises.  It is vital that people recognize that these are
individuals, not tribes;  individuals, not leaders.  By and large tribes are
standing for dignity, and the movement (AIM) is fighting for it.  People
should start to see that the ones manufacturing polystyrene  tomahawks
are dictating over their people, not representing them.  These are the same
ones that allow nuclear waste sites on the Eastern Cherokee reservation.
There is a new sense of who is fighting for the people's survival and who
is collaborating to seal our fate.  People should look harder at the truth.
Our leaders are fighting against nuclear waste sites on Prairie Island [see
story page 12], not doing jigs at football games.  Our leaders are standing
up against the desecration of Sacred burial sites, not hanging out with the
descendants of Columbus.  Our leaders are people who "vote with their
bodies" and have lobbied from jail cells.
       Native Americans from Alaska to Ecuador have created a unity
which is hemispheric in scope.  Native people marched together
demanding justice with one voice at the Ecosummit in Brazil.  Has this
ever been the case?  A unified political struggle that is unprecedented is
opening up.  Native people in South Dakota are educating their people
about the resistance in Guatemala.  Miskitos in Nicaragua are in solidarity
with Ojibwas in Minnesota.  I met a 19 year old Native from Colorado this
Summer who has traveled and lived in El Salvador three months at a time.
He traveled with the FMLN and was present when the cease fire
celebrations commenced.  Likewise, his community has been the host of a
yearly delegation of Salvadorans.  Many Native peoples have a united
consciousness.  The exchange routes existing many years ago between
North and South America have been revived (no, I don't mean the free
trade agreement).  This has not been the case in the 500 years that their
system has been interrupted.  I wonder if Amerikkka understands the
future implications of these developments.  The circle is being mended.
       It has been a struggle, though, to accomplish this while all of
America had some idea of where Indian people were supposed to fit in
their lives.  Some Americans wanted us to be mascots while others wanted
us to reconcile within interfaith communities.  Some wanted us to say
Apache helicopters were o.k. while other expected the "bionic Indian" as
Vernon Bellecourt once expressed it.  Others wanted to become us,
without the pain of being us.  They wanted to sell pseudo-Indian
ceremonies, jewelry, and books, but they didn't want to live on
reservations.  It seemed everyone wanted to make a buck off of us and
everyone saw the trendy movies written by and starring some white guy
about us.  It seems that we made our agenda fighting for immediate
survival and sovereignty while everyone else argued about who had
made it hard for Indians to survive and be sovereign.
       It has been a strange year.  I came into this year thinking, "This will
be the year America will march on Washington in droves demanding
justice for the Native people."  I was naive.  I thought it would be the year
the Black Hills would be returned to the Lakota.  I must have been
dreaming.  This has been an unprecedented time in which many have
helped to bring about some reality therapy, though.  This is the year that
three ships turned away from San Francisco because they were extremely
and dangerously unwelcome.  This is the year thousands marched against
a team called the Redskins.  This is the year when Leonard Peltier was on
60 Minutes,  It has been 500 years of resistance this year, just like the 500
years before it.  It has been a year of resistance for the earth when a
volcano destroyed a US army base in the Philippines.  A time when
hurricanes have humbled us all.  Mammoth fires, a cold summer, floods,
typhoons, and through this we watched a city burn in an uprising against
the oppressive unnatural conditions there.
       All in all, Native people have reminded AmeriKKKA that we're still
here.  We aren't going anywhere, and we've always been here.  It seems
that 1992 has been the indispensable step towards the possibility of real
survival.  This year the warriors of the Western hemisphere have met and
are seeing a collective vision of the future.  African warriors, Chicano
Warriors, Islamic Warriors, Working class Caucasian Warriors, Native
American Warriors, womyn Warriors, and Asian Warriors have unified
for common goals against their oppressors.  It has been a time when many
started to see that singing "Black and White" (for "We Shall Overcome")
together was awkward when a native person was standing next to them.
A fitting end to this year would be George Bush leaving the White House.
I hope I'm not dreaming.


*************************************************
Arab professors beat U of L's racist game
*************************************************

by Tom Pearce
Louisville PSL

       After a year-and-a-half long battle for justice in the cases of two
Muslim/Arab professors (Ibrahim Imam and Ahmed Desoky, who were
denied tenure by racist forces in the Speed School at University of
Louisville deans office), the professors, students, and community activists
proclaimed victory in June.
       For months the Progressive Students League, Student Coalition
Against Racism (SCAR), and the Committee to Defend Imam and Desoky,
had increased pressure on President Donald Swain and the board of
trustees.  Aside from leafleting the school and gathering petitions,
students began to wage a struggle to be heard at several board of trustees
meetings.  On many mornings, graffiti adorned the campus proclaiming
"Justice for Imam and Desoky" and the student newspaper The Louisville
Cardinal was stuffed with SCAR's version of the news: The Louisville
Criminal.
       When SCAR spoke at the meeting, represented by Christine Jones
of the PSL, Kenneth Bryant of the Association of Black Students, and
myself representing SCAR, SCAR reminded the trustees that with the
current consensus against discrimination evidenced by the LA riots, they
were bordering on sending a dangerous message to students  and the
community about U of L's hiring practices.  SCAR also reminded them
that the business of trustee members could be more effectively protested
during summer if they were unwilling to address the issue.
       Finally, at the May trustee meeting,  Professor Imam's case, along
with President Swain's assault on their rights, was heard in a jam-packed
room full of students, community, and press.  The trustees were taken by
surprise at students' ability to mobilize forces in summer months.  After
deliberating for a record length in closed session, the trustees had the gaul
to delay the vote until more trustees could research the issue (13 of 20
attended that day. Roumor had it that the real reason was the professors
win on a straw poll).  SCAR members sat on the floor and refused to allow
the trustees to finish their unrelated business.  Students made a statement
to the press that regardless of the outcome of the vote, they would not take
no for an answer.
       At June's trustee meeting, the historic vote was taken, again amidst
a packed room.  Scar vowed to resist a no decision.  After deliberating for
a short time, the trustees returned with a vote against the President (for
the first time ever) and for the immediate promotion and granting of
tenure for Imam and Desoky.  Never in the history of the state had anyone
won reversal in a tenure dispute.  U of L's legal council walked by
students when leaving and proclaimed "guess we know who establishes
policy on this campus now."
       It is very important to note that during this struggle,  President
Swine moved to eliminate U of L's religious studies program, which
happened to be chaired by the renowned Islamic Feminist Riffat Hassan,
who, along with Imam, was active against Bush Gulf massacre.  SCAR
was able to head Swine off by linking the elimination of religious studies
to the tenure struggle.  Professor Syed, a professor in biology of Indian
origin, who was active against the war, was also the victim of a
discontinuation of contract.  Students wish they did establish policy on
this campus, but this victory is one drop in a bottomless bucket.  Needless
to say, the governor's panel just replaced nine of the twenty trustees,
increasing the amount of African-American trustees by 25% and women
trustees as well.  It looks like the Swine are on the run temporarily.
       This case is proof that every once in a long while, when students
wage an intelligent, well-researched struggle, we can win.  Out of this
struggle came an active working vehicle, SCAR, by which African
American, Muslim/Arab, Native American, and progressive white
students can fight the system.  We cannot devalue the impact of struggle
even when victory is seldom.
       SCAR would like to thank now editor of The Louisville Cardinal
and, at that time , journalist Lorraine Lawson for printing the truth
through all the repressive tactics the university an former editor Donna
Hedgespeth used to twist the story.  We applaud your patience and today
your editorship of the paper

*************************************************
Madison boycotts the University Book Store
*************************************************

By Kate Misurek
The Daily Cardinal

       Over the course of the summer, over two dozen political, civil
rights and student organizations on the UW-Madison campus have joined
in a boycott of the University Book Store.
       The Ten Percent Society, Madison's lesbian, gay and bisexual
student group, called for the boycott after a lesbian employee was fired
without  explanation after two years of employment with the Book Store.
       Former bookstore employee Lois Corcoran has filed a complaint
with the Madison Equal Opportunities Commission alleging
discrimination on the basis of age and sexual orientation.
       The Ten Percent Society has organized an informational picket line
in front of the University Book Store, and the Wisconsin Student
Association (WSA) has canceled all Book Store accounts.  In addition,
several WSA members will help inform both professors and students of
alternative locations to purchase texts, WSA co-president Victor DeJesus
said.
       John Epple, Book Store general manager, has said he will make
efforts to improve sensitivity toward gay and lesbian concerns.
       Charles Squires, Ten Percent Society co-president, said the
immediate goal of the picket is to draw the public's attention to what they
called the store's discriminatory policies and inform students of
alternative locations to buy their books.
       "We also want to see substantial improvement in the Book Store's
policies towards gay, lesbian, bisexual and minority employees," said
Squires.
       DeJesus said the WSA decision to support the boycott came after
the Ten Percent Society presented evidence that the Lois Corcoran case
was not the first incident of discrimination at the Book Store.
       Squires said several cases of discrimination towards gay employees
have come to his attention, and it is common knowledge that it is not safe
to be "out" if employed at the Book Store.
       "The publicity of the Corcoran case is what focused our efforts on
the boycott, but we've been aware of the problem for about a year,"
Squires said.
       Squires said two other objectives are to get the Book Store to extend
all family benefits to same-sex registered domestic partners, and obtain
the assurance that all employees have access to their performance
evaluations.
       Along with these objectives, Squires said he hopes to get a public
statement of the Book Store's non-discrimination policy, aggressive
promotion of diversity in their work force, sensitivity training programs
for management and employees and hiring of a Human Resource director.
       This story originally appeared in a slightly altered form in The
Daily Cardinal, UW-Madison's student newspaper.  Not many are aware
that  The University Bookstore is a national chain.  Check into their
practices on your campus!


*************************************************
Columbus lied

Thank god our leaders don't
follow in the grand tradition!
*************************************************

By  Jaan Laaman

"Columbus lied
Columbus lied
He told everybody he discovered America,
What a whole lot of fantasy.
Maybe he thought the Indians were fantasy.
Columbus lied
Columbus lied..."

       So goes the first verse of a popular calypso song heard not only in
the Caribbean islands, but increasingly across the US as well.   It is but a
small part of the opposition to the upcoming government-sponsored
celebrations of Columbus' arrival in the Americas.
       The "official" festivities sponsored in the U.S., Spain, the Dominican
Republic, and other countries primarily seek to glorify Columbus as a
discoverer.  They also want to highlight the benefits that European culture
brought to the Americas then and the fruits of that "discovery" now -
namely the modern United States.
       Columbus certainly did lie.  He lied to his sponsor, the Spanish
monarchy, about just how much gold he was finding.  While huge mineral
wealth did exist in places such as the Incan Empire of Peru, the Caribbean
islands where Columbus plundered were not especially rich in gold or
precious stones.
       More importantly, Columbus lied to the people who welcomed him
to their land, the Native Americans.  While telling them of the power and
mystery of the Spanish crown and the Christian church, he was already
scheming about how to take the Indians' wealth, land, and enslave the
people themselves.  In short order,  Columbus and his men were stealing
gold, seizing land, raping women, enslaving people,  and killing anyone
who resisted - all in the name and greater glory of Spain and the Vatican.
Columbus, in fact, was a conqueror and plunderer, not a discoverer.
       The pillaging of Columbus occurred five centuries ago.  World
history has many examples of conquest and plunder, so one may ask,
what is the contemporary significance of this 500th anniversary?  Truth,
historical authenticity itself, would be reason enough to put many of the
Columbus myths to rest.  More significantly, though, while Columbus is
long dead, his legacy is not.   Columbus' exploitative spirit lives on - with
a vengeance.  It is for these reasons that many people in the U.S. and
worldwide are demanding a revision of , if not outright opposition to, the
"official" 500th anniversary.
       The European conquest of the Americas was not just about
incorporating one piece of land into some empire after war or imposing a
new ruler on some people.  It marked the rise of Europe as the principal
world power, the accumulation of wealth necessary for capitalism and the
large-scale pursuit of slavery, including the kidnapping and dispersal of
millions upon millions of Africans.  It was all founded on the theft of
resources from the indigenous peoples of this land in what is surely one of
humanity's bloodiest genocides - the extermination of millions of Native
Americans.  Within 50 years of Columbus' arrival on the island of
Hispaniola, there were literally no Taino Indians left alive!  It is estimated
that up to three million Tainos may have lived there prior to his
"discovery."  For the Americas as a whole, perhaps over 100 million
indigenous people died as a result of the European invasion.  In the
United States there are less than two million Native Americans today,
whereas 500 years ago it is estimated there were between 20 and 60
million.
       Slavery, occupation, and genocide - these are the foundations of
Columbus' legacy and the European conquest.  They continue today as
part of  colonialism, neocolonialism, and imperialism - as part of the "New
World Order."
       Just as Columbus did not regard the customs and lives of the
Tainos as worthy or relevant, so too today in the West and in the U.S. in
particular, the culture and existence of nonwhite people are considered
inferior and inconsequential.  This is true whether they are Native
Americans, Puerto Ricans, Salvadorans, South Africans or Third World
people anywhere.  It began with Columbus' arrival and it continues with
the myths and lies about him and the entire history of European
colonialism since.  The upcoming government-sponsored 500th
anniversary events are but a continuation of this lie.
       Columbus himself may or may not have been much of a man or a
leader.  We know he was an inept governor, not a good businessman, and
a poor soldier.  He was an accomplished sailor, however, and became the
"point man" for Spanish expansion, and ultimately European expansion as
well.
       The meeting of Europe and the Americas was a momentous event
in world history.  The last 500 years of a European and U.S. dominated
world has seen incredible advances in many areas of life.  It has also seen
incredible suffering, murder, and waste.  The pillaging of the earth and
most of its people, as was initiated by Columbus on his first arrival,
continues today.  Whether we have already gone beyond reparable limits
is unknown.  What we do know is that the planet and the majority of its
people can not stand another 500 years in the tradition of Columbus.

        Jaan Laaman is a member of the Ohio 7, and is serving his sentence
in Leavanworth, KS.


*************************************************
Everyday Activism
*************************************************

by Shani Rachel Handel

       Being "political" is more than just ideology or philosophy.  It is
more than protests and forums.  Politics can and should be a way of life
that effects every aspect of one's thoughts and actions.  This does not mean
that everything one does is controlled; rather, while fighting the system
one can also open oneself up to the creative and exciting alternatives that
already exist.  The foods we eat, the places we shop, even the way we
nurse the common cold, are  all potentially "political" acts making just
living inherently revolutionary.
       Eating is something everyone must do but it is also an empowering
activity.  Activists in all movements can add to their productivity by
eating responsibly.  If one is a Socialist it follows suit to buy foods from
smaller companies  or farmers.  Huge multi-national corporations control
our economy and persecute the workers of the world.  Activists fighting
for economic change can remove themselves from this systematic
oppression by spending their money on produce grown by local organic
farmers and products made by collective or cooperatively run companies.
Environmentalists will want to follow these same practices because it is
large producers that use  toxic growing methods and wasteful packaging.
Local organic farmers use safe growing methods, and smaller bakeries and
business' often use recycled packaging.  Buying bulk saves money and
eradicates wasteful packaging altogether.  Anti-war activists or anti-
imperialists will want to put their money behind their activism by
boycotting food companies that are a part of the military industrial
complex.   How often do I see busy activists sucking down a fast food
meal in between meetings or rallies.  With each bite a worker is exploited,
a piece of rain forest is destroyed and another weapon is built.
       This is not to say that eating at McDonald's should be outlawed.  I
place the full blame of     destruction on the system, not on the individual,
keeping in mind that alternatives are not available to everyone.  What I
am saying is that along with other activist work, some of us can sit down,
eat a delicious meal of seasonal fruits and veggies, while saying "FUCK
THE SYSTEM" at the same time.
       How, you might ask, can getting a cold turn into a political act.
First of all, eating correctly can have a huge influence on illness.
Processed, refined sugar, which our huge corporations spend much of
their energy(apart from destroying the earth and exploiting workers)
marketing, deplete vitamins such as C which can actually help to boost the
immune system.  Instead one is forced to go to the store and purchase a
remedy  produced by  a huge pharmaceutical company.  These
"medicines" actually harm the body by suppressing symptoms so that the
immune system fails to fight off the root illness.  One becomes ill again
and the process repeats.  When one visits the doctor one doesn't usually
think of him/her as a part of the medical industry.  It is however, just that,
an industry largely controlled by pharmaceutical and other companies.
Many drugs such as anti-biotics are needlessly prescribed and in the long
run do more harm than good.  There are many naturally found anti-
biotics, herbs, body work, and dietary factors that can improve and
strengthen the body.  Activists can stop supporting these huge companies
that are a part of the military industrial complex and destroy the
environment.  The refusal of the medical industry to explore "alternative"
health methods (such as "non-traditional" acupuncture.....Chinese
civilization being so,  ahem....young and inexperienced... is what keeps
health care costs so high and unavailable to so many people.  In other
words not only should health care be available to everyone no matter
what the cost, it actually doesn't have to be a huge burden on the
economy.  Activists should organize, rally, protest, write etc. for universal
health care while taking advantage of what options we have to stay strong
and healthy at the same time.
       Living politically is in NO WAY meant to replace strong activist
work!!!!  The system cannot be broken down by seeking alternatives alone.
Activists must fight to change the entire structure.  Also, because of that
structure, these alternatives are not available to most people.  It would be
counter-revolutionary to take advantage of alternatives without fighting
to make them available to everyone.   In doing both,  activists can break
down the oppressive society that exists while creating a new, just, society
at the same time.



*************************************************
I, too, can hate
*************************************************

by Kawone Harris
Black Student Union President,
Illinois State University-Blommington/Normal
(on hearing '92 South Central LA riots)
for Rodney King and Howard Caesar*

i
..And this is what I heard in class "Not guilty.  Not guilty.  Not
       guilty."  It was at this moment I truly felt hate.

I hated every white person that ever struck, killed,
       lynched or raped a black person just for the color of their skin.

I hated police officers for having the power, authority, and now
       license to kick and kill at will.

I hated the American justice system for its outright failure, from
       Emmitt Till, and now, to Rodney King.

I hated blacks for submitting themselves to the abuses of white
       America.

I hated my mother for bearing, not just one, but two children into
       this racist, bigoted, polluted, corrupt country.

And I hated myself - for not being able to ensure that justice in
       America served any and all persons.

But most of all...

I just hated America, for making me - a black man.

       I am the black man

               I am the hated, the shunned, and the feared.
               I am the mocked, overlooked, and the leered.

               I am the opposite of all that is good.
               I am the endangered - still not understood.

               I am the human with feelings so real.
               I am still beaten - most sure to be killed.

               I am the exotic, a whore to be sold.
               I am the black man - still slave to them all.

ii
And for no more than a couple of hours I came to understand what
       "the hate that hate produced" truly was - me.

Yes, now I know where I stand in America.  And if only for those
       brief hours, I fully understand the pain and the rage of being
       black in America.

But what I hated the most followed.  Everywhere and everyone around
       me always taught me not to let hate stay - and I didn't.  Not
       because I didn't want to either.

No, I have painstakingly perceived that the only way I can survive
       in America is to love white America; to embrace it wholly and
       fully.  While underneath all of the smiles and the laughs and the
               hugs for my white brethren lay over 500 years of sadness,
anger,          and pain.

Pain, because they will not allow me to be a man in America, even
       today, I forever have this pain.

*On June 8, 1992, Howard Caesar, defenseless, was critically shot and
wounded by six Newark, New Jersey police officers for driving a stolen
vehicle.  They lied in their police reports, but did later reveal the truth.
Fearing police harassment, no witnesses came forward.  The city
investigated, but only in the wake of the LA riots.


*************************************************
The Vote's In and Suharto Sucks:

Congress Finally Cuts Military Aid to Indonesia
*************************************************

By  John E. Peck
PSN-Madison

       Friday Oct. 2 was a sad day for corporate drones in Washington
and goon squads in Jakarta alike, as a House-Senate conference committee
struck down a $2.3 million International Military Education Training
(IMET) package for Indonesia.  In a letter to constituents, Sen. Bob Kasten
(R-WI), diehard supporter of the Suharto dictatorship, tried to peddle the
IMET funding as "human rights related."  Yet, hundreds of outraged
citizens knew otherwise and bombarded his office with phone calls.
While the grassroots effort failed to change the mind of the right-wing
degenerate, it did tip the overall Congressional balance in favor of cutting
U.S. aid.  Unfortunately, given Indonesia's existing weapons stockpile and
previous donor contributions, liberation movements such as FRETILIN in
East Timor, OPM in West Papua, and AM in Sumatra still face a grueling
uphill battle for self-determination.
       Congressional debate over U.S. collaboration with one of the
world's most heinous dictatorships just so happened to coincide with the
visit of Allan Nairn, a reporter for New Yorker magazine, to the UW-
Madison campus.   Nairn, along with Pacifica Radio correspondent Amy
Goodman, narrowly survived an Indonesian military attack on a Catholic
funeral procession last Nov. 12 in Dili, the capitol of East Timor.  An
estimated 146 people were shot and/or beaten to death out of a crowd of
over 5,000, including Kamal Bamadhaj, a visiting student from New
Zealand.  According to Nairn, Kamal's bereaved parents have since filed
suit against several Indonesian commanders who were apparently
"rewarded" for their efficient handling of the massacre with "scholarships"
to Harvard's Business School.
       Nairn recounted the gory details of last year's incident before a
packed audience with a slight tinge of irony in his voice - after all, his own
skull was fractured by U.S.-supplied rifles in the hands of supposedly
U.S.-trained troops.  Political tensions had been building in East Timor for
month's in anticipation of a tour by a joint Portuguese/U.N. delegation.
In a crude attempt to stifle criticism, the Indonesian military circulated
death threats and prepared mass gravesites.  A young Timorese activist,
Sebasti Gomez was killed on Oct 28 during an army assault on the
sanctuary at Matael Catholic Church where preparations for the fact-
finding team's visit were taking place.    When the Bush administration
suddenly intervened to cancel the trip, the frustrated Timorese chose to
use the Nov. 12 memorial service for Sebasti as an opportunity to tell
the world of their hope for independence.  Obviously, such free
expression is poorly tolerated by the Indonesian regime.
       The White House has aided and abetted Suharto ever since 1965
when the CIA engineered a bloody coup d'tat against the Sukarno
government and provided names of prominent leftists for liquidation.
Over 500,000 people were eventually killed in an effort to purge the
country of "communist sympathizers."  Ten years later, Suharto took
advantage of the collapse of the Portuguese colonial empire to invade East
Timor where the Frente Revolucionria do Timor Leste Independente
(FRETILIN) had already won a popular revolution.  The day before
Indonesian shock troops stormed the newly independent nation, President
Gerald Ford and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger met with Suharto in
Jakarta to grant tacit U.S. approval of his self-proclaimed tanah air   or
land-and-water fatherland.  Since then over a third of East Timor's
population - in excess of 200,000 people - have been killed as part of a
thinly-veiled campaign of cultural genocide.  While the U.N. has never
recognized Indonesia's claim to the territory, continued U.S. military and
economic support, to the tune of $70 million last year alone, has certainly
bolstered the desired impression of a fait accompli.
       Suharto's expansionist dream has been a horrid nightmare
elsewhere in the region, as well.   The rigged plebiscite and subsequent
"annexation" of West Papua in 1969 actually served as s "dry run" for the
invasion of East Timor.  Over a quarter of West Papua's estimated 800,000
inhabitants have since died at the hands of occupying Indonesian forces.
The Organisasi Papua Merdeka  (OPM) or Free Papua Movement
continues their war for liberation despite amazing odds - their indigenous
bows and arrows pitted against modern napalm and aircraft.  On the other
end of the archipelago, the Aceh Merdeka  (AM ) or Free Aceh Movement
is spearheading the self-determination struggle in Sumatra.  Since the
1970's, though, thousands have perished on the island due to the merciless
counter insurgency operations of the Suharto dictatorship.
       With demise of the Cold War and collapse of the "Evil Empire," it is
tempting to think that there is little reason left to bolster dictatorships
under Bush's "New World Order."  Yet, if the real national security
objective is to promote big business profit then there is still a lot of money
to be made from oppression.  Military suppliers such as GE and ITT have
always been vocal proponents of weaponry and training for the Suharto
dictatorship.  In a recent  full page New York Times advertisement, Mobil
applauded Indonesia's "aggressive development" policy and boasted of it's
own $3 billion investment in the Arun gas fields of Sumatra.  Shell is just
one of many oil companies that have already signed lucrative agreements
with Jakarta for exploration rights off the southern coast of East Timor.
Meanwhile, Scott Paper has unveiled plans in West Papua to evict 25,000
people and clear-cut 2 million acres in order to establish a massive
eucalyptus pulpwood plantation.
       Elsewhere on the island, Freeport-McMoran is  busily extracting
copper and gold from a 10,000 acre strip-mine, reducing indigenous
workers to debt servitude and poisoning water supplies with toxic waste -
all under the watchful eyes of occupying Indonesian troops.
       Not to be left out of the action, the World Bank, the Asian
Development Bank, and other multilateral lending agencies are also
pouring  funds into Suharto's coffers ~$4.5 billion in 1990 alone.  By far the
most infamous example of "development assistance" to  Indonesia is the
Transmigration Scheme, perhaps the largest engineered movement of
human populations since the slave trade.  In order to marginalize unruly
minorities, landless peasants are being transplanted from overcrowded
Java and Bali to volatile areas where Indonesian rule is still disputed.
West Papua alone is slated to receive 500,000 immigrants, who will have
to displace indigenous peoples from an estimated 8 million acres in order
to establish homesteads.  In a nation where per capita income is a mere
$900 per year, foreign donors are nonetheless willing to spend ten times as
much on relocating an impoverished family to the forest frontier as pawns
in a ruthless campaign of colonization and pacification.
       In a response to reporters shortly after the Oct 2 vote Rep. Obey (D-
WI), longtime critic of the Suharto dictatorship, termed it "absolutely
outrageous" that U.S. taxpayers should be expected to bankroll such a
murderous military.  The present situation is not unique to Indonesia,
however, nor is the record of past complicity by the United States.  The
IMET package represents just the tip of a much more insidious iceberg -
namely the Bush administration's benighted foreign policy program.  As
long as this country  continues to sacrifice human dignity on the altar of
corporate greed, then one can expect similar massacres like that in East
Timor to haunt the collective consciousness of humanity well into the
future.


*************************************************
Pin the Tale on the Jackass:
*************************************************

A woman is like a tea bag.
Nancy Reagan
I owe nothing to Women's Lib
Margaret Thatcher
A women's place is in the home looking after the family, not out working.
Pope John Paul II
They have the right to work wherever they want to -as long as they have
dinner ready when you get home.
John Wayne
We've made a lot of mistakes. A couple of them you've caught. Most of
them you haven't.  And I'm not going to tell you what they are.  There
have been doozies you've missed.
John Sununu
People that are really very weird can get into sensitive positions and have
a tremendous impact on history.
J. Danforth Quayle
I don't think of myself as naturally imperialistic or paternalistic, but there
are certain things I like to do my own way.
William F. Buckley Jr.
I think we must prefer our own people first to other people.
Pat Bucannan
The American Library Association is the chief purveyor of child
pornography
Phyllis Schlafly
You're going to scoff and say, 'that guys a nut' "
Jesse Helms
Stop the liberals from spending taxpayers money on perverted deviant art.
Jesse Helms
A little rape is good for man's soul.
Norman Mailer
Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.
Henry Kissinger
Sex education classes in our public schools are promoting incest.
Rev. Jimmy Swaggart
Human beings are not animals, and I do not want to see sex and sexual
differences treated as casually and amorally as dogs and other beasts treat
them.  I believe this could happen under the ERA.
Ronald Wilson Reagan
I listen to the feminists and all these radical gals - most of them are
failures.  They've blown it.  Some of them have been married, but they
married some Casper Milquetoast who asked permission to go to the
bathroom.  These women just need a man in the house.  That's all they
need.  Most of these feminists need a man to tell them what time of day it
is and to lead them home.
Rev. Jerry Falwell
The battle for women's rights has been largely won.
Margaret Thatcher
I think contraception is disgusting -people using each other for pleasure.
Joseph Scheidler, director, Pro-Life Action League.
I don't think Christians should use birth control.  You consummate your
marriage as often as you like and if you have babies, you have babies.
Randall Terry
It's very healthy for a young girl to be deterred from promiscuity by fear
of contracting a painful, incurable disease, or cervical cancer, or sterility,
or the likelihood of giving birth to a dead, blind, or brain-damaged baby
(even ten years later when she may be happily married).
Phyllis Schlafly
Imagine me going around with a pot belly. It would mean political ruin.
Adolf Hitler
Well, I've gotta take ol' Jumbo here and give him some exercise.  I wonder
who I'll fuck tonight.
Lyndon B. Johnson
What a waste it is to lose one's mind.  Ornot to have a mind
J. Danforth Quayle
The bombing starts in 5 minutes
Ronald Wilson Reagan


*************************************************
Kitchen corner
*************************************************

"If you try to please your guests as you would your family, you'll realize
that it is not necessary to do something extravagant to impress.
Simplicity, using good ingredients well, is usually more impressive than a
lot of fancy cooking that is sometimes too much to handle..."
                                                        -Fanny Farmer


Yes, sometimes the simplest ingredients in the right combination can have
amazing results.  Whether it's mixing yeast and sugar for bread or
nitroglycerin and nitrate for dynamite, even the novice cook is but a few
short steps away from the kitchen revolution.  Having already satisfied
your hunger [see kitchen corner in vol. 9 nos. 1 & 2], this time  Fanny aims
to quench your thirst.

Brandy Sidecar

       An always appropriate apritif for the truly sophisticated bomb-
thrower activist.


Ingredients:
       5 parts brandy
               (Korbel if you can afford it, obviously)
       1 part Cointreau
               (Triple-sec in a pinch)
       1 part lemon juice

       Shake well with ice and strain into chilled cocktail glasses, either
straight-up or over chipped ice.  Garnish with  twist of lemon or
maraschino cherry.

Flaming Shots

Brighten any party with this sure-fire hit.  But drink fast! The longer the
burn the lower the alcohol level.


Ingredients:
       Wide mouthed shot glass
       Your favorite 100+ proof spirit
       Zippo lighter or equivalent


Pour, light, toast* & suck it down.   [A word of caution:  Those with facial
hair may find it prudent to suffocate the flame before consuming].

*"up the rebels" is always a good one.

Molotov Cocktail

Thanks to industrial society's pervasive dependence of fossil fuel, this has
become a "party favor" the world over.

Ingredients:
       empty quart bottle
       old rag
       cork
       gasoline, oil

       Fill the quart bottle with two-thirds gasoline and one third oil.
Stuff a gasoline-soaked rag into the mouth of the bottle and cork so as to
leave one end free for a fuse.  Once lit, toss at your preferred target
[billboard, vehicle, building, etc...] and hope that the bottle breaks so as to
ignite the fuel.  Avoid spilling any molotov cocktail on yourself unless you
are prepared to become a human torch.  Remember - water can not douse
petroleum.  Suffocate any wayward flames instead.

*************************************************
Letters to the editor
*************************************************

Dear Friends,
       Thank you for sending me your terrific paper.  As soon as I get my
finances in order I will send you a contribution.  I think your work is very
important-especially at a time like this, when "family values" and a variety
of Mr. White Potatoe Heads are dominating the scene.  For those of us
locked away from the progressive movements, your paper is a lifeline to
the struggle beyond the walls.  So I thank you and send along my
solidarity.
       Please note my new address, sigh [see "Outta control @ Lexington,"
page 4. eds].
               no justice, no peace
               Venceremos
               Laura Whitehorn
               Marianna, Florida

Dear PSN people,
       Red greetings - hope these words are catching you in positive and
rebellious spirits.
       I've received the last couple of issues of your paper -including the
summer issue.  I'm pleased to see it ( + of course progressive literature
gets passed around in here).  Hope many people were able + ready to
"Unite + Conquer" in + after Houston.
       In general, it is heartening and instructive to see younger sisters
and brothers, like you all, strugglin, raising issues, joining in efforts and of

course organizing and educating at campuses and other areas.  I became
politically active as a teenager and student; worked on New Left Notes
and other papers in and through SDS  [Students for a Democratic Society
-eds.] and other formations in the 60's and on.  So it especially energizes
me to see your work.
       As you see I've enclosed a copy of an article i wrote on Columbus
and all that jazz - you may find it useful or interesting [see Columbus
Lied, page 8]
       Keep me on your sub list - and best hopes and expectations on all
your work - with this bush-clinton game revving up big time, there's lots +
lots of work for us to do.  If there is anything i can do in any way to assist
or support your work, feel real comfortable asking              - Take care.
               In Solidarity,  Amandla!
               Jaan Laaman
               Ohio-7 political prisoner
               Leavenworth prison

To my friends at PSN,
       The length of time it has taken me to write demonstrates my
current sense of bureaucratic disarray.  The good news is that despite
myself I am graduating next month.  It sounds like you are doing
exciting/interesting things. I miss working with you all.  If I can be of any
help, please let me know.
       Good luck to you all.  I hope we will be in touch in the future
               Amanda Newton
               Chicago, IL


*************************************************
NAFTA: The Big Lie!
*************************************************

by  J. Burger and Amie Weinberg
INSTEAD

       What do the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the Quincentennial
of Columbus all have in common?  They all play a role in the recently
forged "New World Order," reaffirming the mentality of the last 500 years
of genocide, exploitation, and imperialism that has dominated the world.
In October 1992 global leaders will be celebrating the discovery of
America (read re-colonization of people and the world) at the same time
as they are finalizing GATT and NAFTA.  U.S. negotiators of these
agreements have been authorized by Congress to work in secret without
public scrutiny.  This authority subverts the pretense of democracy in this
country and undermines the sovereignty of peoples and nations around
the world.  This trend will also destroy citizens' collective capacity to
create economically and ecologically sustainable policies.  With the future
of GATT delayed due to effective opposition worldwide, the NAFTA
proposal becomes the imminent threat.  Both political parties have aligned
themselves in support of this measure (read: danger!)

What About NAFTA Anyway?
       In reading the papers or listening to radio and television sources,
one is led to think that NAFTA has been passed.  Don't believe the hype!
The media has fallen prey to  free trade ideology, even to the point of
aggrandizing NAFTA as the savior of North America's economy.
Governments and corporations professed the same promises about the
Canadian-U.S. Trade Agreement (CUSTA).  They just forgot to tell citizens
(read withheld information) that both economies might suffer major
downturns as a result of signing CUSTA.  A recent report now claims that
Canada lost over 700,000 manufacturing jobs since 1989.  Canadian culture
(music, art, media, etc.) has also been invaded by U.S.-based
transnationals as a result of the weakening of laws designed to enhance
and further Canadian autonomy and identity.  In general, the only thing
"free" about free trade is that it freely trades away the freedom to live in a
democratic and just society.
       NAFTA is not so much about trade as it is about strengthening the
ability of transnational corporations to do as they please -i.e. earn profits
regardless of the impacts on people and the environment.  We hear from
"official" sources that NAFTA will increase the competitiveness of U.S.
companies.  This assumption is based on projected figures of increased
Mexican consumption of U.S.-made goods, and it is unrealistic
considering that the average wage in Mexico is under $2.00 per hour.  This
leaves most Mexicans unable to play the U.S. consumer game.  Just a
glimpse at the track record of Corporate America should convince most
citizens that their arguments can not be trusted.
       Looking at Mexico gives us plenty of clues as to the real
consequences of NAFTA.  The maquiladoras,  or "free trade" zones as they
are called, are factories right over the border where U.S. corporations
exploit people's labor for $4.00 per day and pollute the surrounding area
by dumping untreated toxins straight into rivers.  This model of
maldevelopment is expected to continue and even expand under NAFTA.
Mexico has strong environmental, labor, health, and safety laws on record
- it just so happens that these are conveniently not enforced.  Some of this
is based on the fact that corruption pervades almost every level of
government.  Putting aside for a moment our own country's lousy record
of trustworthiness, one would still expect U.S. negotiators to demand
political responsibility from the other governments involved in the
agreement.
       As well, there has been little analysis to date on the links between
the rise in racially-motivated attacks in cities across the continent and the
ongoing free trade negotiations.  We should start to look at the potential
impacts on communities when millions of recently unemployed people
are uprooted from their homes in search of decent work and a better life.
NAFTA must be held accountable to all the peoples of North America.

How Does NAFTA Affect Students?
       As students we must understand the direct threat that NAFTA
poses not only to employment, democracy, and the environment, but also
to education.  The Canadian, Mexican, and U.S. educational systems have
been increasingly under attack the last few years.  Funding to the
Canadian post-secondary educational system has suffered $3.2 billion in
cuts since 1986.  In Canada, just as in the U.S., when federal moneys are
cut from university budgets, private sources (read large corporations) gain
greater influence over the direction of institutions.  As Catherine Remus
with the Canadian Federation of Students explains, "For students, reading
about NAFTA is like being thrown an anchor when you are drowning.
Here we are fighting for restoration of adequate funding levels and we
learn that the Canadian government is struggling to keep the ability to
fund education at all."  Education is just one part of the overall social
welfare program jeopardized by NAFTA.  Having fewer employment
opportunities, environmental regulations and democratic rights will also
adversely affect students everywhere.

What Are Students Doing About Free Trade?
       As students win more and more battles against privatization and
corporatization of their institutions, the grassroots movement for citizen
control is bolstered.  Since the mid 1980's students in Canada and Mexico
have taken direct action against this trend and more recently are
connecting this issue to the larger problem of NAFTA.  This past summer
in Mexico, students successfully mobilized thousands of classmates to
resist a government plan that would have required tuition at public
universities.  (In Mexico access to free education through college is a
constitutional right, something we need to fight for here in the U.S.)
Students from all over Mexico have been marching and protesting to voice
their opposition to the government's economic policies including NAFTA.
For the past few years, Canadian students have also been staging protests
using such organizing tools as teach-ins, political art, and street theater to
build broader coalitions.
       In June 1992 students from Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. came
together for a three day meeting in San Diego, CA to discuss how to best
address and take action against NAFTA.  After much exchange of
information and ideas, the students realized the need for a continent-wide
student network.  On November 27-30, 1992  youth from Canada, Mexico,
the U.S., and indigenous nations will gather in Guadalajara, Mexico for the
first Continental Student Conference to open dialogue about NAFTA.  The
gathering will discuss strategies to fight free trade and create a future
based on justice, equality, and ecology.  We will also educate each other
about the possible consequences of NAFTA, GATT, and global economic
integration for our respective nations.   If we are to work together
effectively, we must have a clear understanding of the cultural, economic,
and other aspects that make organizing in each country unique.  Students
have finally realized that the time for concerted action is now!

Action  to Take Against NAFTA.
       In order to get things rolling in your group and on your campus,
the first priority should be to educate yourself and others about trade
issues.  Last year students in the U.S. formed the International Student
Trade Environment and Development program (INSTEAD).  Among
other things, INSTEAD has created and gathered together a wide variety
of educational materials about free trade and its impact on education,
environment, economics, human rights, etc.  We have a resource
bibliography, video collection, and numerous pamphlets that are available
to students.  We have also created a "Campus Action Guide to Free Trade"
with a list of speakers, contact  groups, and ideas for organizing.
       A sure fire way to educate people at your school is to put on a
teach-in including trade unionists, environmentalists, economists, student
activists, and professors.  Set up the agenda to include workshops and
allow plenty of time for questions.  Also, help support events that shed
light on the "Big Lie" of Columbus' discovery of America by showing how
NAFTA is nothing but a tool to insure 500 more years of the same unjust
and genocidal mentality that has plagued this continent for centuries.
NAFTA will give overwhelming power to a handful of transnational
corporations, continuing the western legacy of world domination.  If we
are to have sufficient force to counteract their plan, we must also organize
across the same international borders that they wish to control.  The
continental meeting in Guadalajara will thus be a major step towards
unifying students around common goals to wage a successful struggle
against free trade.

       For more information on INSTEAD and how you can participate in
the Guadalajara Conference, please refer to the ad on this page..  For more
information on groups already working against free trade in your area,
please call Don Weiner of the Fair Trade Coalition at (312) 341-4713.  To
learn more about the complexities of NAFTA, read "Trading Freedom,
How Free Trade Affects Our Lives, Work and the Environment" edited by
John Cavanagh, Institute for Food and Development Policy, (415) 864-8555
or "Look Before Your Leap, What You Should Know About NAFTA"
prepared by the Development Group for Alternative Policies, (202) 544-
2600.


*************************************************
Native Americans Under Siege in Lawrence Kansas
*************************************************

by Christine Jones and Tom Pearce,
Louisville-PSL

       Haskell Indian Junior College student Christopher Bread was
walking home one night near  a Lawrence, Kansas club frequented by
skinheads, when he was struck and killed by an automobile driven by
Marvin Schall.  Numerous witnesses recalled in court that they heard
Schall bragging on the C.B. radio that he had just hit "an  idiot Indian."
Schall's passenger testified that they went back to hide the body, but he
later recanted his testimony.  To date, Schall has only been charged with
leaving the scene of an accident where bodily injury occurred.  This is the
same charge he would face for having hit a dog.
       Seven other Indians have been murdered in the Lawrence area in
the last three years: several were killed by hit-and-run drivers, two were
found in the Kansas River with lacerations on their bodies, and one was
shot.  Another five - all hit-and-run victims - survived, but were unable to
convict their assailants.   Two were women who were strangled, one from
Trinidad, one of Puerto Rican origin.  They may have been perceived to be
Indian.
       Of the total 13 victims, nine were or are Haskell students.  The
parents of Bread, Christopher Bread and Cecil Dawes, teach at Haskell.
Another victim's parents were on the Board of Directors of the American
Indian Center in Lawrence.  When the Lawrence Police Chief was asked
by the Wall Street Journal about the unsolved killings, he said that they
were all isolated incidents.  The Journal reporter was surprised to see two
Nazi war helmets on the Police Chief's desk.

       Greg Sevier was sitting at home depressed about an argument with
a female friend, when his parents found him in his room with a butcher
knife.  They were afraid he was going to hurt himself, and called the police
to ask for assistance.  Four minutes later, Greg had been shot six times by
the officers who answered the call.
       The officers claim that they shot in self-defense.  Not many people
believe that it took six shots for them to defend themselves.  Not many
people believe it was self-defense.  Greg's body was found lying on his
bed, indicating that he was not acting aggressively when  he was killed.
       Neither of the officers have lost their jobs.  The Sevier family is now
pursuing a suit against the Lawrence Police, and a book has been written
about Greg's murder.

       This summer in Lawrence, Native students at Haskell and Kansas
University  came together with the American Indian Movement (AIM)
and Louisville Progressive Student League members, to fight against the
overt racism that has been plaguing the town in recent years.  PSL
members, together with Mike Haney (an AIM representative), first went to
Lawrence after hearing that Christopher Bread's murderer would be tried
on May 25, the day after the annual protest for Leonard Peltier in
Leavenworth.  We went  to help with a protest outside the Lawrence
courthouse.  About 100 Native Americans protested there.  Mike and
others reminded the press that, given the current anger toward racial
injustice that spawned the L.A. uprising,  insensitivity toward the blatant
racism  pervading the community bordered on the reckless.
       Marvin Schall was found guilty of "leaving the scene of an accident
where bodily injury occurred."
        Unfortunately, there had been a mistrial on charges of reckless
homicide, due to intimidation of Bread's family and supporters by friends
of the assailant's family. Large men shadowed Bread family supporters in
the lobby of the courthouse, and one went so far as to lean inside a phone
booth used by Bread supporter Ruth Kyle while she made a call.  During
that trial, it became known for the first time that Marvin Schall's father
was a high-ranking Klansman in Missouri.  Since then,  stories about the
case have appeared in the New York Times and the Lakota Times, a
national Native newspaper.
       On July 10, Schall was to be in court again.  Mike Haney, Clyde
Bellecourt (Executive Director of AIM),  the Leonard Peltier Defense
Committee, the Kansas University Native American Student Association,
the newly-formed Lawrence Committee for Native American Justice, and
Tom Pearce all participated in a week of action in Lawrence to try to bring
the issues to the public.   Two panel discussions were held in which the
community began to express the rage that had built up from the
unanswered violence in Lawrence.  Participants said they were scared to
walk at night.  They felt as if the white community did not even know that
people were dying.  Students from Haskell said they weren't sure they
wanted to come back to school.  Some expressed anger, but said they
weren't  afraid.
       On July 10, another protest, led by Clyde Bellecourt, was held at the
Lawrence courthouse.  Bellecourt spoke about the perception he had that
an Indian life was not worth as much as a white one in Lawrence.  Mike
Haney said, "An Indian is the same as a dog in the Lawrence legal
system."  Marvin Schall will be sentenced for his standing conviction after
he is retried for vehicular homicide in the coming months.
       In the days following AIM's visit, Haskell student Verland Edwards
formed a group along with the Sevier family, Haskell students, and
community members to plan a course of action.  Currently, Native
activists in Lawrence and nearby Kansas City are forming AIM chapters.
       We must not let these deaths go unanswered.
       No justice, no peace.


*************************************************
NSP to take dump on Prairie Island?
*************************************************

by Meredith Lerner
psn - madison

       Once upon a time on a sandy island, on the flood plain of the Great
Mississippi River, 700 meters from the Prairie Island Mdewakanton Sioux
community, there was... AN OUTDOOR HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE
WASTE DUMP. What's wrong with this picture? Northern States Power
(NSP) operates three nuclear reactors in Minnesota, two of which are
located near the Mdewakanton Dakota reservation on Prairie Island. Now
NSP wants to build outdoor on-site storage casks to dump radioactive
waste which will overflow their indoor storage pools.  Tribal
representatives testified at the Certificate of Need hearings for the dump
that NSP has and continues to treat the Mdewakanton Community "less
than honorably." If a solution for waste placement cannot be found, the
Prairie Island reactor will have to shut down between now and the year
2000. In April of this year, the Administrative  Law Judge (ALJ) who  led
the Certificate of Need hearings found that other utility management
options exist. The options include cost effective conservation and
renewable energy. He recommended that the Minnesota Public Utilities
Commission (MPUC) reject NSP's proposal. However, NSP called on the
Bush Administration to pressure MPUC into allowing for the dump, and
on June 26, MPUC threw out the ALJ's report and gave NSP permission to
store 17 casks. A strong backlash is being pushed by the Prairie Island
Coalition and the Mdewakanton Community to gain support for the State
Court of Appeals process, and for legislation to stop the dump and
develop conservation and renewable resources instead.
       What you can do to help stop the dump? Contact the Minnesota
state legislators and urge them to reject NSP's proposal and support
legislation based on the efficient use of renewable energy. Also contact
MPUC and urge them to reconsider their decision and reverse it.

MN House of Representatives
State Office Building
St. Paul, MN 55155

Minnesota Senate
State Capitol
St. Paul, MN 55155

MPUC
700 American Center Building
150 East Kellogg Blvd.
St. Paul, MN 55101

The Prairie Island Coalition
Against Nuclear Storage
(PICANS)
P.O. Box 581669
Minneapolis, MN 55458

*************************************************
Fiscal managers turn phlebotomists!

Healthcare workers to be bled for fun & profit
*************************************************

by Robert McClure
PSN-Madison

       One of the crown jewels of the University  of Wisconsin at Madison
is the U.W.  Hospital and Clinics (UWHC), a nationally recognized
research and health facility located at the western end of campus.  Besides
conducting research and serving as a training ground for doctors and
other health professionals, UWHC has traditionally provided a large share
of health care to those on Medicaid and Medicare, and others who are
least able to pay.  To hear hospital administrators tell it, these several
missions have put a serious drain on the institution's profitability and
threaten to send it into the red. (Curiously, the hospital has shown
millions of dollars in profits over the past several years).
       Whatever the case, rather than turn to the state for fiscal help,
hospital administrators are seeking to make the facility more profitable on
the backs of the workers.  A plan by University officials to "privatize" the
hospital  was first revealed in 1991, the result of an unpublicized (read
"secret") several-year  study by a private consulting firm.  Billed as
essential because it would have expedited purchasing, construction and
hiring processes, the privatization would also have taken all of the
facility's several-thousand non-professional staff off  of state civil-service
rosters and made them employees of a private corporate entity.  The
union-busting implications of this were not lost on the  hospital
employees, who - as state workers - enjoy relatively reasonable pay levels
and good benefits, at least by private-sector standards. In early 1992, the
several unions which represent hospital nurses, clericals, maintenance and
other staff blocs, were able to successfully band together and- with  the
help of other grassroots support-kill the privatization plan.
       Unfortunately, a new plan to "restructure" the hospital has now
been put on the fast-track by the University, and  is  flying rapidly toward
the state legislature for approval. (The UW -Madison Chancellor and State
Board of Regents have already rubber-stamped the plan;  hospital staff
were scrupulously excluded from the approval process.)  Though the
restructuring would not make the hospital  private in the strictest sense, it
would have many of the same negative consequences as privatization,
particularly for hospital employees.  A two-tiered staffing system would
be implemented, with new, non-state employees coming on board beside
current state civil-servants.  Since the newer employees would not be
guaranteed civil-service benefits, serious division between workers would
be fostered, crippling coordinated worker action and effectively breaking
the unions.  The hospital - seeking to expand outpatient services - might
also begin gobbling up outlying, small-town clinics, with questionable
consequences for the local autonomy of those clinics, as well as the rights
of their workers and the cost of care.  It is unclear how restructuring
would affect the hospital's delivery of care to the poor, but repeated
concerns by fiscal managers of wanting to get "more 'paying' patients into
the patient mix" have not left anybody particularly reassured.
       The insidious trend of privatization of public institutions over the
past decade has seen a corresponding decrease in public service from
those institutions, and a concomitant increase in concern for profit
generation, the pocketing of funds by management, and other
reprehensible capitalist behavior.  Together with deregulation of already-
private institutions, privat-ization has marked  a more general tendency in
America to  move institutions and other collective undertakings of our
society out of public oversight and into the hands (and behind the closed
doors...) of a smaller and smaller number of people in power, whether in
government or the "private" sector.  In this way, privatization and
deregulation are related to such other more overtly frightening
developments  as the deepening secrecy of the intelligence and
surveillance agencies, the repeated blows against the Freedom of
Information Act, and the eroding of habeous corpus statutes.  By
demonizing public oversight as "burdensome" and "costly," those in
power have played upon America's worsening economic condition to
enhance their own level of control, while at the same time denigrating
what stands at the very heart of democracy - active public participation
and control of civic life - so as to continue our metamorphosis from
meddling and uproarious citizenry into passive and preoccupied
consumers.
       It is now in the hands of progressive folk at the UW to  deconstruct
"restructuring"  and call it what it is: a surreptitious attempt to bring about
the most dangerous aspects of privatization without raising a public stink.
And, as the proposal sails on toward the state legislature, it becomes
increasingly incumbent upon the larger  Wisconsin citizenry to  actively
denounce this restructuring attempt as anti-worker and bad public health
care policy.

       Rob McClure is a clerical peon at UWHC, and a member of AFSME
Local 2412.


*************************************************
Rationality & Pro-Life strategy
*************************************************

by Mark Hamann
PSN - Madison
       In biological evolution there are several ways to enhance one's
fitness, hence one's chances at reproductive success.  (Though
reproductive success is the driving force of evolution, homosexuality is
entirely consistent with evolution, but that requires concepts that aren't
taught to most people.  Perhaps that will be a subject of some future
article.)  Some are physical such as harder shells, quickness, etc., while
some are behavioral.  One fitness enhancing behavior is called spite.  Spite
is a possible result of the emotion of envy.  The idea is that by denying
another organism of some fitness, one's own fitness increases relative to
that of the other organism.  In other words, improve your own chances by
knocking someone else's down.
       This, I believe, is a major though unconscious motivation of the
'prolife' movement.  They are obviously not out to protect the sanctity of
life because they vote for those responsible for the slaughter of hundreds
of thousands of people from the United States itself to East Timor to the
Middle East to Latin America.
       I started formulating the following hypothesis when I noticed that
whenever there was a debate on TV between a prolife woman and a
prochoice woman, the prolifer was, according to our society's
conventional standards, more often than not, not as pretty as the
prochoicer.  It is certainly unfair to judge a woman by how pretty she is
alone; however, my observations led me to believe that looks seemed to be
a reliable (perhaps statistically significant, but I only kept track mentally)
indicator in predicting which was on which side in a debate between two
women over abortion.
       In fact, looks are very important, because, whether we like it or not,
they are integral in our formation of our self images starting from puberty.
As we begin to judge where we rank while we're still in grade school, we
begin to access our chances at finding a good mate.  From a biological
point of view, a mate is a resource, and the competition for that resource
begins.
       There are a number of strategies in the competition.  Some people
start wearing expensive clothes; some fight; some give easy access to
themselves; some go into denial that external appearance is important;
some try to reduce the probability that others will be successful
(remember spite from above?).  In tenth grade, when I was still a
conservative geeky misfit, I adopted the last two strategies.  I didn't
believe that people should engage in sex before marriage.  Yet, I still
couldn't help but feel that even tough I didn't believe in it, I would have
done it at the very first time the opportunity presented itself.
       I showed the characteristic inconsistency of a prolifer.  My stated
reason was some stupid ideal.  My real reason was that I wasn't attracting
girls.  And if I can't get laid, why should I be complicit in other people
getting laid?  Keep in mind that the previous question is a question that
seems to be asked in the unconscious, not the conscious.
       The prolife movement is a synergetic collection of people whose
unconsciousnesses are asking these types of questions.  It is composed of
geeky misfits who couldn't get laid and anti-sex fundamentalist Christians
who pretended that they didn't want to get laid.  The leaders are, of
course, men, but these phenomena are found in both women and men.  Of
course, this doesn't account for 100% of the prolife movement, but I
believe it accounts for a significant amount.
       The problem is that such behavior is perfectly natural.  Indeed, it is
wise!  It is much easier to compensate for a problem than to solve it, and
prolifers are compensating for their past or present perceived inability to
seek/find mates who meet their criteria.  At an unconscious level, they
win because you lose.
       What is the solution if my hypothesis is correct?  Political strength
doesn't seem to be the answer.  Though those who are better off have
access to abortion, those belonging to politically/economically weak
groups don't.  Frankly, I don't know what the solution is.

       Mark is an unorthodox progressive.


*************************************************
Outta control @ Lexington
*************************************************
by Laura Whitehorn

       On August 12-14, 1992, the first sustained act of resistance by
women prisoners in the u.s. federal prison system in 20 years took place.

Here's What Happened
       On Wednesday night, August 12, there was an argument between
two prisoners in the central yard area ("Central Park") at about 8:30.  It
was over quickly, and everyone was walking away, towards the housing
units, because we have to be inside at 9:00.  A lieutenant came running to
see what had happened - pulling on his black leather gloves.  He yelled
"Hey you!  Stop!"  When no one stopped, he grabbed the first Black
woman he saw, lifted her in the air, and body-slammed her to the ground.
Other women yelled at him that she wasn't even involved in the
argument, but he kept on attacking her - putting his knee in the back of
her neck and smashing her face to the pavement.  He pulled her hands
behind her back, cuffed her, dragged her to her feet, and another guard
took her to the lieutenant's office.
       This was witnessed by about 100 women.  They were very upset by
it and they gathered to talk to the Captain.  At 9:00, all but about 15
returned to their housing units after being assured that the beaten woman
would be released back into general population, and that a thorough
investigation would be undertaken.
       But on Thursday morning, it turned out that the woman had not
been released, and that some of the women who had witnessed the
incident had been put in the hole ("segregation") as well.  And, despite the
promise of an investigation, by 3:00 p.m. prisoners
were told that the investigation was completed and no further statements
would be taken.
       This was not the first instance of physical brutality at Lexington -
nor, certainly, of
racism.  The male guards have been putting their hands on us more and
more - both in frequent pat searches, and whenever they want us to move,
or to stop, or whatever.  This particular lieutenant had threatened several
women with brutality.  The normally high level of racism had also
recently heightened, following the L.A. verdict and the uprisings there.
Several Black women who had complained of prejudice had been put in
the hole for "inciting to riot."
       But this time, it all struck a nerve.  On Thursday, word traveled:
Don't go in at 4:00 p.m. (the major daily "standing count" throughout the
Bureau of Prisons).  Stay out in Central Park and demand that the women
be released from the hole - and the lieutenant suspended.
       At 3:50 p.m., when the hourly "movement" began, the scene in
Central Park was tense and exiting.  Usually, it's rush hour - 1900 women,
in the largest women's prison  in the world, rushing to the units to try to
get a few things done before the 4:00 count.  On this Thursday instead, it
was like gridlock:  everyone moved slowly, if at all, waiting to see what
would happen.
       At 4:00 p.m., an announcement ordered us all to go inside for
count.  Many did, but 90 of us stayed out and moved into the center of the
Park.  We sang Bob Marley's "Stand Up for Your Rights," and chanted
"Stop Police Brutality," "We Want Justice," "Let Them Out Of Seg," and
"Figueroa [the lieutenant] Must Go."  Ringed by guards - including a
Special Operations Rescue Team  in full regalia - we demanded to speak to
the Captain.  While we demonstrated, we heard shouts of support from
the windows of the housing units, and at least two "all available officers"
codes to different units - meaning that the women who had returned to
the units for count were doing some kind of support action too.
       We had to shout the Captain down when he finally came to talk to
us because he was telling too many lies.  Finally, he said that the
lieutenant would be back at work on Monday, and we all knew there was
no point in any further discussion.  We were hand-cuffed and escorted to
seg - most of us being taken to the old High Security Unit, which has been
out of use almost entirely since the BOP was forced  to close it in 1988.
Seven women to a cell, no blankets, no water - it was payback time.
       The next day, 12 of us were taken out and chained up on a bus to
Marianna, Florida (The new women's high security unit).  As each of us
was taken out of Lexington, the whole place was locked down.  But it was
midday, so there were over a hundred women in Central Park on their
lunch breaks.  As each of us was escorted through the Park, we were
cheered - loudly, enthusiastically, joyfully - by everyone there.
       I've since learned that while we were in transit to Marianna, a
smaller group of women repeated the action in Central Park at 4:00 p.m.
on Friday.  There were also quite a few small fires set in various housing
units during the night.  And a number of women were shipped out to
Pleasanton [California] after we 12 were shipped here to Marianna.
       It was the first active resistance in a federal women's prison in the
u.s. in 20 years.

WHAT IT FELT LIKE:
       For a few bright moments, we felt free.  As we moved into Central
Park, defying the daily, grinding regulations and control of prison life, we
were liberated from the fear that holds prisoners in check.  We had the
power of justice on our side - and in our eyes as we looked at one another.
       The most common thing you hear people say at Lexington is "If the
men [prisoners - the place used to be co-ed] were here, the police wouldn't
get away with this.  Women don't stick together, so the prison can put
anything they want on us."
       But we proved that that's not true.  The racism and brutality that go
down every day just didn't go down on this day.  We'd had enough, and
we trusted and respected ourselves and one another enough to stand up
together.  The demonstration was international - inspired primarily by
Jamaican, Haitian and African-American women, it was joined by Latina
women and some white women as well.  It was clear, for once, that if the
police could continue to attack Black women (as they do every day - for
example, at any given time the hole holds more Black women than any
other nationality), then no one would be safe.
       Anger is a constant reality in prison, and the entire prison system is
designed to ensure that anger is turned inwards, to destroy one's self-
respect and humanity, instead of being turned outwards toward the
system and the oppressors.  It took courage to resist all that, in the context
of the total control, abuse and disrespect of women that constitutes
women's prison.  We had to trust one another, that we would not be
standing out there alone.  As we looked around at one another, we knew
that our demonstration was a victory, no matter what punishment might
follow.  A small flame of power, sisterhood, and dignity had been
rekindled.

       Laura Whitehorn is a North-American anti-imperialist political
prisoner.  We salute her -not only for her participation in the Lexington
uprising - but also for being the only contributor this issue to get a story in
under deadline.

*************************************************
Shawnee Control Unit for Women
*************************************************

by Anti-Imperialist Political Prisoners
Marianna, FL

In May of this year, a nationally coordinated mobilization against control
units took place.  The call was issued by the Puerto Rican and New
Afrikan national liberation movements, the Committee to End the Marion
Lockdown (CEML), and other solidarity organizations on the  twentieth
anniversary of the Attica Rebellion.  The first control unit was also  built
20 years ago, as part of a wave of repression carried out by the
government against the upsurge of revolutionary and progressive
movements in that period.  The mobilization condemned the
"Marionization" of prisons and the proliferation of control units.  In the
preceding months, a process of education by the sponsors focused on:
       *The use of control units as tools of political repression.  A past
warden of Marion has stated:  "The purpose of Marion  control unit is to
control revolutionary attitudes in the prison system and society at large."
       *The fact that national oppression and white supremacy of U.S.
society determine who is incarcerated in these units.
       * The brutal physical and psychological conditions in the control
units.
       There was no mention of women and women's control units in the
mobilization's propaganda.  The history of the use of control units against
women, - including the current federal incarnation, the Shawnee Unit at
Marianna, Florida - was ignored.  A false picture was projected - that
women are exempt from placement in control units; that Shawnee is not a
control unit because it doesn't use the same physical brutality as men's
control units.
       This view undermines the struggle against control units.  Important
milestones are overlooked:  the mobilization against the Cardinal Unit at
Alderson, WV, and the national campaign to shut down the High Security
Unit (HSU) at Lexington, KY.  These efforts were significant because of the
explicit political mission of these units:  targeting women political
prisoners and Prisoners of War from the Puerto Rican Independence
Movement and white anti-imperialist movement.
       Sidelining women as equal participants in the struggle to close all
control units has deeper implications.  It diminishes the importance of
women's resistance.  It ignores the brutality of psychological  methods of
control and behavior modification.  It plays into the government
mythology that women are more submissive and open to manipulation.
And because a number of political prisoners and POW's have spent the
majority of our sentences in control units, this omission further distances
us from our movements, indirectly playing into the principal objective of
the government: isolation.  By isolation we don't mean the physical
barriers created by any incarceration, but rather the lack of an organic
relationship to the very movements and struggles that we were part of -
the activities for which we are imprisoned.  By isolation we mean the
turning of political prisoners into symbols to be remembered as historical
leftovers of a more militant past, while ignoring them as continuing
participants in today's progressive movements.
    The government relies on secrecy and silence to accomplish its goals.
This paper was written to break with the secrecy and silence on Shawnee
Unit; to recognize women as equal participants in the struggle to shut
down  all control units;  and to be responsible to ongoing political
struggle.

Shawnee is a Control Unit
       CEML, in "Walkin Steel" [CEML's semi-yearly publication; eds],
defines a control unit as a "combination of physical conditions, the policies
which determine who is sent there, and the overall purpose of the unit."
       Shawnee Unit was opened by the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) in
August 1988, after the small group isolation experiment at Lexington HSU
was shut down.  The political and security mission  of Shawnee is the
same as that of the HSU: to control, isolate and neutralize women who, for
varying reasons, pose either a political, escape or disruption threat.
Neutralization insures that the women imprisoned here will never leave
prison with the full capacity to function.  Central to the mission is the
understanding that Washington can decide at any point to transfer any
woman political prisoner or Prisoner of War here.  It also serves to
maintain control over all   women in BOP prisons:  in less than 24 hours,
twelve women who were targeted as leadership of the recent
demonstration by women at Lexington against police violence were
transferred here (see sidebar).

Psychological Control
       To wash away the brutal image of the HSU, the BOP has created
the deception that life Shawnee is normal, not designed or manipulated.
The physical plant is designed to deflect any concern from the outside
about human rights abuses - it looks comfortable and attractive.  This
appearance is a lie.
       The women of Shawnee live in a psychologically assaultive
environment that aims at destabilizing women's personal and social
identities.  This is true of the prison system as a whole; here it has been
elevated to a primary weapon, implemented through  a physical lay-out
and day-to-day regimen that produces inwardness and self-containment.
The unit is a small triangle with a small yard.  Within this severely limited
space, women are under constant scrutiny and observation.  In the unit,
cameras and listening devices (the latter installed in every cell) insure
constant surveillance and control of even the most intimate conversation.

       The intense physical limitations are compounded by a total lack of
educational, training or recreational programs.  The geographical location
of Shawnee makes contact with family and community an almost
impossible task.  Gradually,  women here begin to lose their ability to
relate to the outside world.  As time moves on, frustration sets in,
accompanied by alienation and despair.  The result is the creation of
dysfunctional individuals who are completely self-involved, unable to
participate in organized social activities, and unprepared for eventual
reintegration into life on the outside:  women who resist less, demand less,
and see each other as fierce competitors for the few privileges allowed.
       Competition and individualism become the defining characteristics
of personality distortion here.  The staff seeks out the most needy
personalities and molds them into informants.  Unit life  has been rocked
by a number of internal investigations begun when individual prisoners
"confided" in ambitious staff members.  Snitching and cooperation are the
pillars of the "justice system."   Those that refuse to accept this standard of
behavior are isolated and targeted by those that do.  In the tiny world of
the unit, this can have a massive effect on one's daily life.
       A system of hierarchical privileges governs the unit and destroys
any potential unity.  Small comforts, such as personal clothing, have
become the mechanism  through which cooperation and collaboration are
obtained.   The latest wrinkle is the institution of  "privileged housing" -
the  designation of a limited number of cells on the upper tier as a reward
for acceptable behavior.  This is classic behavior modification.

White Supremacy and Racism
        There are close to 90 women imprisoned at Shawnee:  1/3 Black
women from various parts of the world, 1/3 Latin women, 1/3 white
women, and a very small number of Native American women.  As outside
the walls, a permanent conflict exists between Black people and those in
power.  Prisoners experience, and are affected by, the sharpening of
conflict on the outside and the increasing national oppression experienced
by Black people in particular.  Events in California have given focus to the
discontent and heightened the contradictions.  Since May, an
unprecedented number of Black women have been put in the hole - more
than the total for the past two years.  Currently, five women  from the unit
are in the hole; all are Black.  And while the prison administration says
they do not deal with gangs, "Boyz 'N the Hood" and "Jungle Fever" were
banned from the prison after the Aryan Brotherhood protested.

       Racism  governs how religion can be practiced.  Islam, Judaism and
Native American religions are either totally ignored or marginalized.  One
cannot help but notice this since there is a daily diet of fundamentalist
Protestant and Catholic services, seminars and retreats.

Women's Labor Superexploitation
       Like B block at Marion, there is no productive labor at Shawnee
besides UNICOR.  [UNICOR is a private corporation that profits from the
essentially slave-labor conditions inside the prison system.  Oftentimes -
as is the case with the "pre-release" B unit at Marion - what is produced
are components for the military-industrial complex. eds.]  Unit life is
organized to facilitate the functioning of the Automated Data Processing
(ADP) factory.  Nearly 40 women work here, twelve hours a day and five
more hours on Saturday.  The forced rhythm of this work has made the
ADP factory the most profitable UNICOR operation in the BOP for its size.
The complete lack of any other jobs, the need for funds, the lack of family
support, the enormous expense of living in Shawnee, all push women into
UNICOR, into intense competition and into acceptance of their
exploitation.  Unlike general population prisoners, Shawnee prisoners are
not even permitted to work in jobs maintaining the physical plant.
Removing productive labor is an element in destroying human identity
and self-worth.

Misogyny and Homophobia
       All  women's prisons operate based on the all pervasive threat of
sexual assault, and the dehumanizing invasion of privacy.  Throughout
the state and federal prison system in the U.S., invasive "pat searches" of
women by male guards insure that a woman prisoner is daily reminded of
her powerlessness: she cannot even defend her own body.
       In the control unit, there is absolutely no privacy: windows in cell
doors (which cannot be covered) , patrolling by male guards, and the
presence of the bathrooms in the cells guarantee this.  The voyeuristic
nature of the constant surveillance is a matter of record: in the past year
alone, there have been three major internal investigations of sexual
harassment and misconduct by male officers - including rape.
       Programs that exist in other women's prisons, addressing the needs
of women, are deemed frivolous at Shawnee.  Most women here are
mothers, but no support at all is given to efforts to maintain the vital
relationship between mother and child.  Similarly, if Shawnee were not a
control unit, then education, recreation, religious and cultural programs
should be on a par with those at Lewisberg, Leavenworth and Lompoc
(three men's high security prisons).  But not a single program available in
those prisons is available here.
       The median age of the women here is 37 - a situation distinct from
any other women's prison.  Menopause is the main medical problem in the
unit.  Menopause is an emotional as well as physiological process.
Ignoring this is a pillar of misogynist Western medicine.  In the repressive
reality of Shawnee, refusal to recognize and treat the symptoms of
menopause becomes a cruel means of punishment and an attack on the
integrity of one's personality.
       Security determines all medical care.  Two women who have
suffered strokes here were both denied access to necessary treatment in a
hospital: a life-threatening decision, made solely for  "security reasons."
       Intense isolation and lack of activities mean that the loving
relationships that provide intimacy and comfort to women in all prisons
are of heightened importance here.  Until recently, a seemingly tolerant
attitude towards lesbian relationships was actually a form of control.  For
lesbian relationships to function without disciplinary intervention by the
police, the women had to negotiate with, and in some instances work for,
the staff.  This tolerance was viewed as necessary because the
relationships served as a safety valve for the tensions and anger in the
population.  As a result of the system of police-sanctioned tolerance,
people tended to elevate the individual relationships above any collective
alliances that might endanger the administration's rule over the unit.
       This situation has served to increase the already intense
homophobia in the population.  A new administration has now ended the
tolerance, and lesbian women are now suffering greater harassment and
discrimination.
       Together with racism, misogyny and homophobia define
conditions here.  When coupled with the repressive practices of a control
unit, psychological disablement can result - fulfilling the Shawnee
mission.

Conclusion
        Partly as a result of the astronomical rise in the number of women
in prison and the resulting public interest in women's prisons, and partly
as a result of the struggle against the Lexington HSU, the BOP has to be
very careful not to appear to be brutal in its treatment of women
prisoners.  The investigations of the HSU by Amnesty International, the
Methodist Church, the ACLU and others struck a nerve in Washington.
The experiment carried out within the walls of the HSU failed because of
the personal and political resistance of those inside and outside the walls.
But this defeat did not deter the BOP from its stated goals.  It just drove
them to hide them cosmetically behind a veneer of new paint and the
momentary elimination of the most notorious abuses.  The BOP always
denies the truth of its workings.  It denies the existence of control units
and this unit in particular, not even listing it in the BOP Register of
Prisons.  Nevertheless, Shawnee is the present women's version of the
Marionization of the prison system.  The next one is supposed to be open
in North Carolina in 1994.  The movement should not fall into the trap and
ignore the particular control strategy aimed at women.  Uncovering and
exposing the reality  that Shawnee Unit is a control unit will contribute to
the movement against all control units.


       Silvia Baraldini, Marilyn Buck, Susan Rosenberg, and Laura
Whitehorn are anti-imperialist political prisoners incarcerated at Shawnee
control unit, Marianna, Florida.


*************************************************
World Bank's Fig Leaf Hides Nothing
*************************************************

By  John E. Peck
PSN-Madison

       Euphoria over the Earth Summit may be fading , yet the World
Bank's public relations machinery is still in high gear.   In particular, they
are peddling the portrait  of  a "new and improved" agency - more
"culturally sensitive" and "ecologically aware" than ever before.  Don't
believe the hype:  the World Bank remains just as undemocratic and
irresponsible as ever.
       A case in point is the World Bank's continued support of the Sardar
Sarovar Dam in the Narmada River Valley of India.  Over $900 million to
date, with a substantial contribution from U.S. taxpayers, has already
been squandered on the scheme.  If completed, the dam will inundate
58,000 acres of forest and farmland, as well as displace 100,000 people.
Indian authorities have responded to grassroots protests with flagrant
human rights abuses.  In the wake of mass beatings, arrests, and
detentions, thousands of villagers have still vowed to drown rather than
leave their homes.  A recent independent review revealed other glaring
inadequacies.   For instance, no comprehensive environmental impact
assessment was ever completed for the project.  Technicians greatly
exaggerated the irrigation benefits of the dam, while planners ignored the
increased threat of waterborne diseases such as malaria.  Yet, as far as
World Bank econocrats are concerned in their posh Washington suites, the
end still justifies the means half way around the world.
       It is high time activists in the United States joined their
counterparts in the developing world and held the World Bank
accountable for its negligent behavior.
       Impolite letters in opposition to the Sardar Sarovar Dam can be sent
to:
       Lewis T. Preston, President
       World Bank
       1818 H St.  N.W.
       Washington, DC  20433
Better yet, send him anything else that also adequately expresses your
opinion.

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