BY ELIZABETH STONE AND TOM ALTER

CHICAGO - Thousands of young people and others converged here at the site of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) to protest attacks on working people carried out by the Clinton administration.

On August 25 close to 2,000 marchers took to the streets to protest attacks on immigrant rights. They chanted, "No human being is illegal," "Open the borders - close the INS" and carried signs blasting attacks on immigrant rights, education, welfare, and jobs. One sign carried equations: "Democrats= Deportations, Republicans= Redadas" referring to the Clinton administrations intensification of raids (redadas) on factories with large numbers of Latino workers. Several of these raids took place in the Chicago area in the weeks leading up to the convention. The march and rally were organized by Coordinador `96, which is organizing participation in the October 12 immigrant rights demonstration in Washington, D.C.

The march stepped off from two starting points, one on Chicago's northside near a large Puerto Rican community and another at Benito Juarez High School in the southside Latino community of Pilsen. The two marches met up at Teamster City where a contingent of 50 Teamsters, who had helped organize the protest, joined the marchers. One member of Teamsters Local 714 in Chicago told the Militant, "I'm glad we are here. I think the Mexican workers deserve a living wage too."

The march continued on to the "legal" demonstration area by the United Center, site of the DNC, where a rally was held. Speakers condemned the Democratic Party's attacks on immigrant rights and affirmative action and measures like the anti- immigrant Proposition 187 in California.

Activists protest Washington's anti-Cuba policy
A contingent of youth who participated in the U.S.-Cuba Youth Exchange marched in the action with a 12-foot banner proclaiming, "End the blockade of Cuba, No to Helms- Burton" and support for Puerto Ricós independence struggle. They passed out hundreds of leaflets advertising next summer's 14th World Festival of Youth and Students in Cuba. Participants of the exchange along with a number of mainly Latino youth, some of whom are members of Jovenes Rebeldes (Rebel Youth), packed the Pathfinder bookstore in Chicago the night before the demonstration for a poster making party sponsored by the Young Socialists. Jovenes Rebeldes is a youth organization fighting for immigrant rights.

Members of the Chicago Cuba Coalition marched carrying signs condemning the Helms-Burton Act aimed at strangling Cuba's trade with other countries. Supporters of the Cuban revolution confronted reporters for the pro-Washington Radio and TV Marti while they interviewed right-wingers by standing in front of their cameras and microphones chanting pro-revolution slogans and carrying a giant banner of Che Guevara.

There have been dozens of rallies, marches and political meetings occurring throughout the week. An anarchist counter- convention attracted hundreds of youth from around the country. A "Festival of Life" is being held daily at Grant Park in downtown Chicago taking up issues including workers rights, political prisoners, and the environment. Nearly a hundred hospital workers came to a rally sponsored by the Rainbow Coalition and Jesse Jackson the night of August 25 calling, as their leaflet put it, to "Reverse the Democrat's Decision to Drop Universal Health Coverage from their platform."

That same night at a Rock the Vote event sponsored by MTV at a northside cafe, nine young people, five of whom participated in the U.S.-Cuba Youth Exchange from Chicago, Minnesota, Philadelphia, and New Jersey intervened with a banner demanding the a end to the U.S. blockade of Cuba. Twenty young people also arrived carrying banners calling for the liberation of Blacks and all oppressed peoples and demanding freedom for Fred Hampton, Jr., son of Black Panther leader Fred Hampton, who was killed by Chicago police in 1969. Both groups were interviewed by MTV. The Cuba activists passed out 70 leaflets for the world youth festival in Cuba.

Monday, August 26, saw three demonstrations totaling more than 2,000 people in a one-block area in downtown Chicago. Around 1,000 members of local firefighters unions encircled the Cook County building with a moving picket to protest the city's attacks on their pensions. Across the street at the State of Illinois building, nearly 1,000 people attended an AFL-CIO- sponsored rally for a "living wage." AFL-CIO president John Sweeney spoke at the rally, which in contrast to other actions during the week was used to support the Democratic presidential ticket of Clinton-Gore. A few members of the firefighters union across the street carried Dole-Kemp signs.

Meanwhile, inside the Cook County building around 70 gay rights activists gathered in the marriage license bureau chanting, "Hey Clinton, hey Gore, same sex marriage is what we're fighting for," to protest Clinton's opposition to same sex marriages. One protester carried a sign reading, "It takes gay marriage to build a village."

No to death penalty, cop brutality
The biggest demonstration on Tuesday, August 27, was the Not on the Guest List Coalition rally and march on the DNC, attended by between 700 and 800 predominately young people. The coalition organized the march around the demands: Stand up against the racism of the criminal "justice" system, Free all political prisoners, Stop police brutality, and Abolish the death penalty. The coalition included various anarchist and socialist organizations, anti-racist and death penalty groups, Puerto Rican independence groups, and defense committees such as those for Native American activist Leonard Peltier and Black death row prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal.

Another defense committee present was that of Aaron Patterson, who currently sits on death row here in Illinois. Patterson was convicted of homicide only on the evidence of an unsigned "confession." Patterson says he was tortured during his interrogation, and in fact Chicago police officer Jon Burge, who conducted the interrogation, was fired from the police department in 1993 for torturing more than 40 Black men. Joanne Patterson, Aaron's mother, spoke at the rally calling for a September 23 demonstration to free her son.

Shari Gilbert and Aislinn Pulley contributed to this article.  
 
 
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