Koppel, the recent Socialist Workers candidate for mayor of New York, was speaking to a November 19 meeting of 20 students at Brooklyn College sponsored by the Puerto Rican Alliance and the Black Student Union. The flyer for the meeting issued by the student groups said the event would be an "Open discussion on why: the U.S. war against Afghanistan is not a war against terrorism; students should demand an end to the U.S. Navy's bombing of Vieques; affirmative action should be supported."

In a talk prior to the lively back-and-forth discussion, Koppel explained how the war drive launched by Washington accelerated the major political trends in the world, from the assault on workers' rights to the growing centralization of executive power in the U.S. government, the capitalist economic downturn, and the political polarization evident in the emergence of fascist forces and ultraright-wing groups. "The war and assaults by the employers and their government are not a malfunction, but how the capitalist system works," Koppel said.

He pointed out that provisions of the 1996 Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, along with the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, passed with bipartisan support under the Clinton administration, are now being used in full force and extended. He also noted how the recently enacted "USA Patriot Act" expands the powers of the FBI, allows the indefinite detention of immigrants under the flimsiest pretext of "suspicion of terrorism," permits the Attorney General to define political organizations in the United States as "terrorist," and allows for secret courts and warrants that will be used to target the labor movement and opponents of U.S. government policy.

"At the same time the capitalist government is stepping up its attacks on workers' rights, the employers are going after workers on the job," Koppel emphasized. In Miami, Michael Italie, the Socialist Workers candidate for mayor, was fired from his job as a sewing machine operator at Goodwill Industries because of his opposition to the U.S. war and his support for the Cuban Revolution and union struggles at home. Koppel urged those at the meeting to get involved in the fight to protest this assault on the First Amendment.

Omar Rodríguez, president of the Puerto Rican Alliance, who chaired the meeting, urged those present to sign and circulate petitions protesting the firing of Michael Italie.

While imperialism follows the path of new and wider wars, attacks on workers' rights, and conditions that breed fascist forces, the outcome of the world class struggle is not foretold, said Koppel. "As the Russian Revolution showed, under conditions of growing war it is possible to build a revolutionary movement to establish a government of workers and farmers. This movement is a part of the worldwide fight for a society based on human solidarity--socialism."

In the discussion many of the students indicated they had been closely following the news about the repressive measures being adopted by the government. One student said he appreciated Koppel's explanation that Clinton was a big-business president and not a friend of the oppressed, and requested more discussion on Clinton's record during his two terms of presidency.

"Clinton was a war president and a law-and-order president from day one," said Koppel, noting that within days of his inauguration the new president bombed Iraq. Clinton also carried out his promise to "end welfare as we know it," depriving hundreds of thousands of working-class families of access to government benefits. In December nearly 40,000 families in New York will be cut off welfare, he said. Also under the Democratic president, the Immigration and Naturalization Service was expanded into the largest federal police agency, the prison population doubled, and state-sponsored executions grew to their highest level in decades, making the United States one of the world's top executioners. During his election campaign in 1992, Clinton demonstratively flew back to Arkansas to sign an order to execute a mentally retarded Black man, Ricky Ray Rector.

A young woman said the answer to building a fighting movement rested on beginning to look for ways to struggle with others and not just thinking of yourself, as this society promotes. Another asked how to go about making a revolution.

Koppel urged those present to join in the struggles taking place today, from the protests organized on the Brooklyn College campus against the war and the bombing of Vieques, to the fight of Michael Italie, to strikes and protests by workers. Working-class fighters and youth need to take on the big social and economic questions in the political arena, explained Koppel, noting how his campaign as the Socialist Workers candidate for mayor of New York pointed to a working-class alternative to the capitalist parties.

"It is possible to take power out of the hands of the tiny class of ruling billionaires," said Koppel, describing the record of the Cuban Revolution and its living example today. "Today the working class is potentially the strongest it has ever been, but the rulers work hard to keep us divided. Our biggest challenge is in gaining the confidence that we can change things and run society."

Koppel urged everybody to read about the history of revolutionary struggles available in Pathfinder books and pamphlets, and to join the Young Socialists. After the meeting students spoke with Koppel about other such events they could organize on the campus.  
 
 
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