Williams was responding to newspaper accounts of an "undercover smear campaign" between the two Democratic Party candidates in the May 14 elections for mayor of this city. According to the Star-Ledger, Booker's campaign has produced and distributed a slick poster indirectly blaming James for the deaths of two young sisters who died in a February 4 fire that destroyed an apartment building riddled with housing code violations. The poster asks, "How many more of our children will have to die in fire traps before the mayor takes action against Newark slumlords?"

An anonymous letter, presumably from the James' campaign, accuses Booker of "trying to sell Newark to the highest bidder by accepting campaign contributions from wealthy businessmen around the country," according to the Star-Ledger. James himself told reporters that Booker paid drug dealers to distribute campaign literature attacking him "at 9 and 10 o'clock at night. I know because they delivered one to my mama," he said.

According to the daily newspaper, the candidates deny involvement in the underground campaigns. Both, however, said they believe the messages about their opponents are accurate.

"I think some of what Booker and James say about each other is accurate," said Williams, "and I have no comment on what the supposed drug dealers gave to Sharpe James's mama. All of these accusations are a diversion for working people in this city, who face some of the worst economic and social conditions in the entire state.

"We need to rely on our own power, to extend solidarity to struggles against police brutality and the fight of coal miners and their spouses for black lung benefits, and to chart a working-class political course independent of the two parties of the superwealthy rulers," Williams said. "Only by charting such a road can we begin to fight for a government of our own and open up the possibility of addressing the wretched conditions capitalism has forced on workers and farmers across this country for decades, particularly here in Newark."

This reporter caught up with Williams as he and his campaign supporters were collecting signatures of workers and young people on the streets of Newark in their effort to obtain ballot status for the socialist candidate. Williams, 45, is a staff writer for the Militant newspaper.

The Socialist Workers candidate said that although the mayoral race is officially nonpartisan, it is still the same electoral con game. Sharpe James has been mayor for 16 years and has an entrenched political machine. He touts the "experienced leadership" he has provided for the capitalist rulers. For his part, Booker has attracted some wealthy backers, such as Jack Kemp, a former secretary of housing, and Harold Goldfield, a former legal adviser to Ronald Reagan. Booker is trying to garner votes by snipping at James's heels over the state of housing, education, health care, and employment for workers and their families in the city.

"A mayoral victory for either candidate will not change anything for working people in this city," Williams said. "Slum landlords, housing violations, unemployment, and other social problems are part of capitalist society. These problems won't be eliminated by electing a Democrat or a Republican. They can only be addressed through the social struggles of working people, the beginnings of which we are starting to see today.

"Workers and farmers will only be able to begin to fight to address racism, unemployment, oppression of women, and other hallmarks of capitalist society," he said, "by waging a revolutionary struggle to bring our class to power."

Williams responded to an "anticrime" campaign by the city's rulers that is aimed primarily at Black youth. A recent Star Ledger article, headlined "Influx of ex-cons and a weakened economy help murder rate soar," asserts that "murder made a comeback in Newark and other major cities last year." It stated that there were 96 murders in Newark last year, up from 59 in 2000, and promoted the Greater Newark Safe Cities Initiative that keeps tabs on 100 young men "considered most likely to be the victims or perpetrators of shootings." All are either on parole or probation.

State authorities, reported the article, have imposed tighter restrictions on inmates by curtailing paroles, reducing family prison visits, and increasing the use of solitary confinement as punishment for "misbehavior." Many "amenities" inside prisons have already been eliminated, including education programs that allowed inmates to obtain college degrees while behind bars.

"This anti-crime, pro-cop campaign leads to more working people getting locked up and victimized by cops, especially if they are Black or Latino youth," said Williams. "It is aimed at driving divisions among workers who find themselves incarcerated, and reinforces acceptance of the worst dog-eat-dog values of capitalist society. And it tries to make working people view a section of our class as 'criminals' unworthy of humane treatment."  
 
Protest against secret detentions
Williams said the capitalist rulers have used their media in the same way to justify the bipartisan "anti-terrorism" dragnet mounted by the Bush administration after the September 11 events, which resulted in the arrest and secret detention of more than 1,100 immigrants. Many are currently incarcerated in New Jersey. "The rulers' war on crime, war on drugs, and war on terrorism are all aimed at assaulting workers' rights and gaining acceptance for using greater repressive measures against workers," he said.

Immigrants detained in New Jersey are being held in Hudson, Passaic, Middlesex, and Bergen county jails. A Justice Department spokesperson announced March 6 that 327 people were being held nationwide as of February 15. Although none have been charged with participating in "terrorist activities," the government refuses to release their names or any information about their cases, including the charges under which they are held.

Deportation hearings have been held in a Newark courtroom on a near-daily basis, although no public record is kept of the proceedings, or even of whether a hearing took place. Friends, family, and the media are chased out before the hearings begin.

A typical case involved Malek Zeidan, a Paterson doughnut shop worker who was paid a visit by an Immigration and Naturalization agent. When Zeidan admitted to the cop that he had overstayed his visa he was told to report next day to the INS office in Newark, where he was then arrested. Among those ushered out before the hearing began were reporters for the New Jersey Law Journal and the Herald News.

The New Jersey American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York, and other legal groups filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of the two publications. The ACLU asserted that the U.S. government's policy of holding closed hearings violates First Amendment rights guaranteeing access to court proceedings.

"I call for the release of all 327 people the Justice Department acknowledges are being held across the country," said socialist candidate Williams. "All working people have a stake in demanding that these secret detentions be stopped immediately."  
 
 
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