Vol.64/No.1 January 10, 2000
Letters
U.S. prison labor
It's time to wake up! In the very near future the Federal Bureau of Prisons Industries' UNICOR will be in competition with every small and large business enterprise in the U.S. (40 cents per average man hour versus minimum wage).Recently, in California a small business owner was busted by the INS [Immigration and Naturalization Service] for utilizing cheap, alien workers in a small so-called sweatshop. The owner and workers received combinations of federal imprisonment, fines, and deportation. The criminal act of the aliens was to be working to survive.
Those aliens that fought deportation or were found to have illegally reentered the U.S., or had outstanding warrants, soon became UNICOR workers once committed to federal prison. Those same individuals who could not work in free enterprise were now working in the federal prisons competing with the owners who were now also in prison for doing exactly what UNICOR does—only UNICOR does this with the sanction and approval of the U.S. Attorney.
Aware of rising protest, the Bureau of Prisons recently printed a policy statement that now prohibits illegal aliens with any announced order of deportation to work in UNICOR. However, close scrutiny reveals the manipulation cover-up; INS does not ever review any federal prisoner until they are under their own jurisdiction.
A prisoner
Loretto, Pennsylvania
Vieques vs. U.S. Navy
I congratulate you on your recent article on Vieques and on your editorial favoring Puerto Rico's independence. Although you do mention Rubén Berríos camp at the Navy's firing range, very little of your article focuses on the Puerto Rican Independence Party's (PIP) efforts. Remember, Senator Berríos has spent more than eight continuous months at the firing range's beach, openly violating federal law, yet the federal government has not arrested him. Remember that the PIP is a full member of the Socialist International (SI) and that in last month's meeting of the SI in Europe, Mr. Berríos was named as its "Honorary President." The Navy does not arrest Berríos or all the other protesters at the firing range for fear that the U.S. image will be tarnished before the international community.
Again, thank you for your article and editorial.
César A. Matos-Bonet
WTO coverage
In the December 13 issue of the Militant, there was a "Discussion with Our Readers" column about the protests against the World Trade Organization (WTO). It presented four demands that can unite working people in struggle internationally. In brief: cancel the Third World debt, jobs for all, affirmative action, and stop the deportations.Why didn't this list include fighting imperialism's war drive? This seems inconsistent with the Militant's usual priorities.
Objectively, the fight against Washington's mailed fist is the single most important form of real solidarity that working people in the United States can contribute to the world class struggle. U.S. workers and farmers are strategically placed to widen the space that the world's toilers can use to fight, from modest union struggles to the social explosions that topple capitalist rule.
The fight to maximize this space is crucial to building united, international struggles strong enough to actually win the far-reaching demands put forward by the Militant.
Explaining all of this underscores approaching working people worldwide as fellow fighters who will take advantage of increased space to fight, not helpless victims who need self-appointed advocates.
Although the Militant's WTO coverage included a number of column inches on Washington's war moves against China, the fight against the war drive didn't consistently get top billing as part of the class-struggle alternative to the phony sweatshop and environmental campaigns.
Dave Morrow
Oakland, California
'Militant' on-line
I am glad to see that the Militant is now available on the Internet. I have been a long time without reading the Militant and would like to catch up. I have been working in Saudi Arabia, Algeria, traveling in Pakistan and Vietnam.Michael Maggi
Bangkok, Thailand
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home