In addition, the effort to demand the release of the five Cubans in U.S. jails, framed up and imprisoned, is one that also answers the federal government's attempts to use illegal entry and searching of a private residence, and electronic eavesdropping.

The war by U.S. imperialism against Afghanistan is unfolding in the grisly and brutal manner expected when the mightiest military power seeks to overturn a government in an economically underdeveloped country, one without advanced weapons systems, and devoid of a revolutionary leadership that has the support of the masses and seeks to mobilize them to resist the imperialist onslaught. Afghanistan remains a country with a largely peasant population, tribal social structures connected to pre-capitalist society and the divisions and conflicts that brings, and unresolved national struggles that have been used by imperialism to keep the country divided.

While the ruling class has remained united behind the war, divisions have emerged among the capitalists over Washington's war on workers' rights. There are indications that the Bush administration has overreached in its move to allow the president to set up military tribunals, virtual kangaroo courts, for any person who is not a citizen. Many bourgeois voices are saying Bush has no basis in the U.S. Constitution for establishing the tribunals. They worry about the concentration of executive power this represents and caution that progress made so far could unravel if the groundwork has not been established to justify such far-reaching moves in public opinion.

Additional steps, such as formally appointing a four-star general as a homeland commander-in-chief for federal troops--a direct violation of the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits use of the U.S. armed forces from searching, seizing, or arresting people in the United States--is another threat aimed at working people. It signals the rulers' intention to not only make permanent the various measures to militarize the United States, but to keep testing the waters to see how far they can go.

It is one thing for the Bush administration and Congress to pass a raft of repressive legislation; it is quite another to start carrying it out against working people. That is where the fights today to defend the rights of Michael Italie and the Miami 5 are so important and deserve the support of all workers, farmers, and youth.
 
 
Related article:
Washington faces divisions over attacks on workers' rights  
 
 
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