Racists at `antiwar' rally
At an April 17th demonstration called to protest the U.S.-
NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, former Socialist Workers Party DC
mayoral candidate, Sam Manuel, was surrounded by several
Serbian nationalists for carrying a sign that called for
"Independence for Kosovo."
As some 200 people were gathering to form a picket line in front of the White House, Manuel was asked if he knew where Kosovo and Yugoslavia were and told they were not in Africa. "Go back to Africa," one of them said to Manuel who is Black.
One of them proceeded to grab copies of the Militant with the headline, "Stop the imperialist bombing of Yugoslavia! Support the fight for self-determination in Kosova!" As Manuel and another Militant supporter proceeded to retrieve the papers, Manuel's sign fell to the ground and was stepped on and ripped up.
The three Militant supporters decided to stay a little while longer, and protested the racist comments of these participants to the organizers of the demonstration. One of them simply said that the focus of the demonstration was against the bombing and not for independence of Kosova, thereby dismissing the significance of the racist elements they were allying with. We left shortly thereafter.
The demonstration, called by the International Action Center, focused on protesting the U.S.-NATO bombing of Yugoslavia and these were the predominant chants and signs. It attracted many opponents of U.S. aggression around the world, but also a few dozen Serbians. Before leaving, five copies of the Militant were sold, including one to a high school student from Belgrade, who in addition to opposing the bombing, opposed Milosevic and the Serbian leaders' campaign against the rights of the Kosovar Albanians.
Janice Lynn
Washington, D.C.
Why is Hungary in NATO?
Congratulations on your coverage of the war against
Yugoslavia! You are the ONLY people to both demand a stop to
the bombing and to support Kosovar demands for independence,
the only politically consistent positions to take.
Your stance on the so-called "refugees" is truly refreshing. Yes, they are victims of horrendous crimes perpetrated by the Milosevic regime, and, yes, their plight is used by the imperialists as war propaganda.
But the real point - and, here again, you are the ONLY people saying this - is that the "refugees" are themselves potentially active agents, not passive objects. It is fundamentally disrespectful to pity them, to want to ride in like knights in shining armor and "save" them, like poor damsels threatened by a fire-breathing dragon.
The Kosovars are workers and farmers under attack both by the Belgrade bureaucracy and by imperialism. They will undoubtedly show the resiliency characteristic of humans under attack, as did their parents and grandparents a half century ago in a roughly analogous situation.
That said, some aspects of the war are very puzzling to me, and I hope you can help clarify them. For example, isn't it clear that the United States wants to roll back the workers states in Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary, as much as in Yugoslavia and Russia? If so, then why do these regimes want to be members of NATO? Are they so blinded by their zeal to be capitalists that they don't see the obvious fact that they are being tricked, and that the imperialists plan to stab them in the back in the very near future?
This question is particularly poignant for Hungary. Two weeks after they signed on the dotted line, NATO bombed bridges across the Danube from at least Novi Sad to Belgrade, closing all river traffic between Hungary and the Black Sea; Hungarian television is showing ships backed up at the Yugoslav border.
Isn't the Danube one of the main routes for fuel and other essential commodities for Hungary? Not only is this clearly wrecking Hungarian commerce, the bombing of Vojvodina, with a large concentration of Hungarians, is undoubtedly raising a lot of rank and file concern in Hungary.
These NATO actions were clearly predictable before Budapest signed on to NATO. Please help me understand why they joined - is it simply that the zeal referred to above has rendered them completely oblivious to reality?
Chuck Cairns
New Hyde Park, New York
Clifford Barnes: a fighter for Black, union rights
Dear Editor,
Clifford Barnes, an electrician at the Shell Oil Deer Park Manufacturing Complex (DPMC) in Texas, died suddenly March 18 at the age of 52. He was an ardent supporter of the Militant, well known as a principled fighter for Black and union rights.
Clifford began reading the paper in 1981, when socialist workers in Houston joined the ranks of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers (OCAW) union members working at Shell. He was also a regular reader of New International magazine and Pathfinder books. Clifford used these socialist publications generously in the lively conversations and debates for which he was known. He especially enjoyed testing the "working- class common sense" and analyses presented, in discussions with co-workers.
Clifford was respected on the job and in his community as an outspoken and determined fighter. He would stand his ground, whether up against the Shell Oil bosses or the local police, who often harassed Black youth in McNair, the city just east of Houston where he lived.
He got hired at Shell in the aftermath of the 1960s civil rights movement. That's when Shell began hiring Blacks into some operations jobs - a change from herding them into the exclusive categories of sour tank cleaners and landscapers.
In 1975 some of these workers decided to fight back. Clifford, Leon Bigham, and others filed a class-action lawsuit against Shell. This suit was also directed against the local OCAW, whose leadership in earlier years had been complicity in Jim Crow segregation at the plant.
After five-years of stonewalling, Shell finally submitted to a consent decree that upgraded the seniority dates of all class members. This paved the way for the class to transfer into better jobs and into the skilled trades. Each member of the class also received some compensation.
Again, in 1988, Clifford joined with Earl Davis and other Black workers to file a suit against Shell for discrimination in the areas of hiring, firing, and promotion. This time a federal judge threw out all charges except those concerning promotions. A settlement was agreed upon in 1994, with only a small monetary award for class members and a very weak consent decree.
Clifford considered solidarity with his co-workers part of his job description. He worked with fighters whether they were Black, white, Chicano or Asian, male or female, skilled or unskilled. His presence will be sorely missed.
Willie M. Reid, Detroit
Jerry Freiwirth, Houston
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