The Militant (logo)  
   Vol. 68/No. 17           May 4, 2004  
 
 
‘Militant’ supporters pick up fund drive pace
 
BY PATRICK O’NEILL  
Partisans of the Militant and Perspectiva Mundial from 19 cities sent in $12,400 over the past week for the spring fund drive, the highest weekly collection to date at the half point of the eight-week fund-raising campaign.

Leading the way toward the $85,000 goal were supporters in Tampa, New York, and Detroit—the three cities at the top of this week’s chart—who made qualitative progress through fund-raising meetings during the April 17-18 weekend.

Olga Rodríguez, the fund director in New York, told the Militant that more than 50 people filled the Socialist Workers Party hall for the April 16 Militant Labor Forum there. Titled “Why Washington Has Venezuela in its Gun Sights,” the meeting featured a slide presentation by Militant editor Argiris Malapanis, based on a recent reporting trip to Venezuela.

The gathering started with an exquisite dinner, which included cochinita pibil (roast pork Yucatan style) and other delicious dishes, Malapanis said.

“After Young Socialists member Pete Musser explained the importance of the fund, we passed the hat around, and participants put in more than $2,000,” said Rodríguez. The collection netted $400 in new pledges.

Fund meetings in Miami and Tampa also addressed the ongoing class confrontation in Venezuela between workers and farmers, on one hand, and big businessmen, on the other, who are backed by Washington and are campaigning to oust the elected government of President Hugo Chávez. Perspectiva Mundial editor Martín Koppel spoke at both events, titled, “Venezuela and the Crisis in Latin America—U.S. Imperialism Escalates Its Intervention.”

Three workers from Point Blank Body Armor, where unionists have waged a two-year fight for recognition of the UNITE union (see photo box linked to front page), were among those who packed the Militant Labor Forum hall in Miami’s Little Haiti April 17, Koppel said. Also attending were members of the Bolivarian Circle, a Venezuelan organization there, and Haitians who have organized protests against Washington’s recent coup in Haiti.

The wide-ranging discussion “included questions on the lessons for Venezuela of the 1973 military coup in Chile, and the stance that working people should take in the coming U.S. elections,” said Koppel. Nearly $600 was collected for the fund.

Participants in the Tampa meeting the next day, who included three students and one campus worker from the University of South Florida, contributed $500.

Those attending similar meetings in Detroit and Los Angeles eclipsed those efforts. The collection at the Detroit event gave speaker Paul Pederson, a staff writer for the Militant, more than $1,000 to bring back to New York to help cover the expenses of publishing the socialist press. Pederson, who visited the West Bank and Israel in March as part of a solidarity delegation organized by the World Federation of Democratic Youth, gave a presentation titled, “Palestinians Resist the Israeli Regime’s Military Boot.”

At the Los Angeles event, featuring Socialist Workers Party leader Dennis Richter, more than $3,000 was collected or pledged.

Fund campaigners can take their cue from these events, which based their success on a broad effort to reach out to all partisans of the socialist periodicals. With this kind of approach, the $85,000 fund can be brought on schedule with diligent and steady work during each of the remaining four weeks, down to the finish line.

See fund drive chart  
 
 
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