As U.S.-NATO bombs rain down on working people in Yugoslavia, the U.S. rulers are ratcheting up their attacks on working people at home. "Exercise Roller Ghost" -the May 11-16 mock invasions by U.S. Army forces in Philadelphia; Camden, New Jersey; and Chester, Pennsylvania - are a case in point.
Supporters of the Socialist Workers campaign joined others in Chester June 1 to protest these maneuvers. Outraged residents there described how they were subjected to hours of bombs and gunfire just across the street from their homes. One Camden resident who Socialist Workers campaign supporters spoke with had the U.S. military pegged. "They could have done this where no one would see it," he said. "It was a fear tactic. They weren't hiding it. They are letting you know what they can do."
These military demonstrations are of a piece with other measures by Washington and by state and local governments to increase the repressive apparatus of the state -the growing police brutality, longer jail sentences, accelerated executions, and "profiling" of those they define as criminals. This "antiterrorism campaign" is an attempt to gain acquiescence for the eventual use of military force against all working people who stand up against the employers and the government that serves them.
These drills come at time when working people are stepping up resistance to the bosses' attacks on our standard of living and safety and working conditions on the job. More than 8,000 shipyard workers on strike in Newport News have been joined by 8,000 Mississippi shipyard workers. Our campaign is about joining and championing these struggles.
Among the targets of Washington's "antiterror" campaign will be those who protest the continued U.S. military occupation of Vieques and support independence for Puerto Rico, such as José Solís, who was recently convicted on fabricated "terrorism" charges by the FBI in Chicago. Our campaign demands `Free José Solís and all the Puerto Rican political prisoners!' We urge others to join us in protests across the United States July 7 demanding his release, and to go to Washington, D.C., July 24 to demand freedom for all Puerto Rican political prisoners.
The Socialist Workers campaign says we need a workers and farmers government that fights to put the interests of the great mass of humanity, whose labor produces everything of value, ahead of profits for a tiny minority of wealthy families. We demand an immediate cessation of any military maneuvers in our neighborhoods.