BY ALFONSO GARCÍA
ATLANTA - "What's behind this social tragedy?" was the
question discussed at the April 30 Militant Labor Forum here on
the recent high school killings in Colorado. Floyd Fowler, a
member of the United by Steelworkers of America and of the
Socialist Workers Party, and Olympia Newton, a member of the
Young Socialists in Washington, DC, spoke. Some 15 people, two
of them high school students, attended the program.
Fowler pointed to the hypocrisy of U.S. President William Clinton's statement, "We must teach our children that violence solves nothing," when he is currently heading up the NATO war against Yugoslavia. Fowler focused on the legal violence perpetrated by the ruling capitalist class - from police brutality to the near-daily bombing of Iraq. These acts of brutality, he said, create a social atmosphere where deeply alienated elements reject all sense of human solidarity and engage in anti-social violence.
Newton focused her talk on the ideology of the culture war promoted by ultrarightist politicians like Patrick Buchanan. She noted that an aspect of this culture war is the criminalization of youth. "The rulers of this country are taking more steps to ensure that more young people will end up behind bars," she said. "These measures include broadening the scope of crime - everything from curfew laws, to drinking laws, to the stepped-up drive making underage smoking a criminal offense."
The Young Socialists, Newton explained, seeks to win young people to the side of the only force which can change society - the working class. She pointed to the examples of the strike by Steelworkers at Newport News Shipyard in Virginia, Yugoslav students and unionists who are opposed to the NATO bombing and for self-determination for Kosova, and the thousands of young people who gathered April 24 in Philadelphia and San Francisco to demand freedom for political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal. She also pointed to the young Cuban doctors volunteering for internationalist missions to the Latin American countries hit by Hurricane Mitch.
The following day, YS members from Atlanta and Washington, D.C., participated in the Auburn Avenue street festival with a table of Pathfinder books. We used the festival to campaign against the US/NATO war against Yugoslavia and to participate in the drive to sell subscriptions to the Militant and Perspectiva Mundial. We also campaigned with Capitalism's World Disorder, using it to help discuss out political questions with people who stopped at the table.
The table was a spot for lively political discussions with young people and others attending the festival. Two students from Georgia State University stopped at the table and talked politics with us for about 10 minutes. They bought a copy of the Militant, Che Guevara Speaks, and Socialism: Utopian and Scientific by Frederick Engels. They were very interested in Capitalism's World Disorder, and decided to visit the Pathfinder Bookstore when they had more money.
Overall, the team of Young Socialists and other Militant supporters sold 15 Pathfinder books and pamphlets, including 4 copies of Capitalism's World Disorder, as well as 2 subscriptions to the Militant.
Alfonso García is a YS member in Atlanta. Olympia Newton contributed to this column.