"Mike Italie, a Miami mayoral candidate with the Socialist Workers Party, was recently fired from Goodwill Industries after appearing in a debate where he expressed opposition to the war in Afghanistan, support for the Cuban revolution, and union rights," reported an article in the Daily 49er, the campus paper at California State University at Long Beach in its November 28 issue. The paper announced that Italie would be speaking at an antiwar teach-in sponsored by the campus Antiwar Student Coalition the following day.

Fifty students attended the teach-in. In his talk Italie explained the events that led to his firing from Goodwill Industries on October 22. "After I spoke at a candidates' forum that was reported on the television news, I was questioned about my views by supervisors while I was trying to work," said Italie. "On October 22 a company manager informed me, 'I have been assigned to tell you that because of your views of the U.S. government, you are a disruptive force and cannot work here any longer. Get your belongings and go.'"

"U.S. foreign policy is an extension of what they do at home," Italie said to students at the teach-in. He pointed to the Bush administration's moves to establish military tribunals for people who are not citizens, the government's detention of more than 1,200 immigrants, and the questioning of 5,000 men of Middle Eastern descent across the country. "My firing is part of this assault on workers' rights across the country," said Italie. "In firing me, Goodwill chief executive officer Dennis Pastrana aims to intimidate me and other workers."

Italie explained the same views he voiced in his campaign for mayor of Miami in the November 2001 elections. "The U.S. government for decades has exploited, insulted, and carried out murderous violence against the peoples of Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. By its actions U.S. imperialism is turning this country into a death trap for working people who live here. A revolution by workers and farmers is needed in this country to take the power out of the hands of these war makers," Italie said. "These are the ideas I was fired for and I will continue to speak them. But whether or not you agree with those ideas, I ask your support for my right to not be fired for my ideas."

Among those who signed a petition protesting Italie's firing at the meeting were students who identified themselves from the Turkish Students Association, La Raza Student Association, the Indian Students Association, the Black Student Union, and Iota Phi Theta fraternity.

The following day Italie spoke to 20 students at El Camino High School.

On December 1, he participated in a picket line of 45 garment workers and their supporters. The workers are employees of Forever 21, a popular retailer of young women's clothing. They have organized a campaign of weekly pickets to demand the minimum wage, payment of back wages, overtime pay, and better working conditions in the six plants they worked in that produce clothes for the retailer. Italie addressed the picketers, saying, "I 'm here to extend my solidarity and support for your important struggle. The way you are standing up to fight for your rights is an important example for working people everywhere. I also want to invite your support for the fight to protest my firing from Goodwill Industries in Miami. It's a fight on behalf of all of our rights as well."

More than 40 people heard Italie speak at the Peace Center in Los Angeles later that day. Italie showed a video of some of the news coverage in Miami of his fight for free speech. He reported that he had been informed two days earlier by unemployment officials in Florida that five weeks after his firing they have just assigned someone to investigate his request for unemployment benefits. He described working conditions at the nonunion Goodwill Industries plant from where he was fired and the stakes involved in his campaign.

"One of my supporters asked me if I thought Goodwill Industries CEO Dennis Pastrana made a mistake or a stupid move in firing me," stated Italie. "My answer is no. This is a thought-out move on his part. He's trying to set a precedent and stake a claim that he has a right to fire workers like me for their ideas," Italie said. "This is why it is so important to fight this. I've come to Los Angeles to ask for your support in this campaign. I ask your help in making this boss pay the highest political price for what he's done. An effective fight will make him and every other employer think twice before doing this again."

Other speakers at the event included Esperanza Hernandez, a garment worker at Forever 21 who met Italie earlier that day at a picket line demanding that the company pay its workers. Hernandez explained the issues involved in that struggle and asked those at the meeting for their support.

Also speaking were Antonio Arriaga, coordinator of the Puerto Rican Alliance; Emily Paul, from the California State University at Long Beach Campus Progressives and Antiwar Student Coalition; David Roman, from the California State University at Los Angeles Cuba Study Group; and Joseph Harvey of NORAID. All four have endorsed the Italie fight.

"Puerto Ricans can sympathize with Michael's case," said Arriaga. "We have been suffering a double standard from the U.S. government for more than 100 years."

"I'm not content living in a country that says one thing and does another," said Emily Paul. She described the efforts of students at California State University at Long Beach to fight for democratic rights. She and others are circulating a petition demanding that the university administration not cooperate with the "Patriot Act" signed by president George Bush on October 26. The act allows the federal government to get and review students' records from university administrations without the student's knowledge or consent. "It's important to support Mike and others like him," she said.

"I thank Mike for taking up this challenge," said David Roman. "He's defending human values, American values. The American revolution is ongoing. Our threat is not foreign terrorists. It is those wearing blue flannel suits and sitting in high places. These freedoms Mike is speaking about are worth fighting for."

Irish activist Joseph Harvey said, "Mike Italie is deserving of our support. I think it's interesting the three sore points that the company fired him for--Afghanistan, Cuba, union rights." Harvey explained why in his opinion the views expressed by Italie on these issues were just.

"I think your fight is our fight," Lawrence Rey of the Puerto Rican Alliance told Italie during the discussion period that followed the presentations. He volunteered to help work to win support for Italie in Los Angeles. Out of the meeting, he and a several others set the date for a meeting to establish a Committee to Defend Free Speech in Los Angeles. Meeting participants raised $1,000 for the defense effort.
 
 
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Free speech meeting held in New York  
 
 
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