In the interview, Fruit declares support for USF professor Sami Al-Arian, an outspoken supporter of the Palestinian struggle for self-determination who has been fighting a frame-up campaign against him. In September 2001 university authorities began efforts to fire him on grounds that he had ties to "terrorists." He was fired on February 26 of this year after U.S. authorities indicted him on "terrorism" charges; he is currently in a U.S. prison awaiting a bond hearing. Subheadings are by the Militant.

BY GRACE AGOSTIN  
Rachele Fruit has at least one bit of political experience that her fellow candidates for Tampa’s mayor do not. Fruit is a former candidate for governor of Florida.

Fruit ran as a write-in for the position last year against Republican Jeb Bush and Democrat Bill McBride. But the Socialist Workers representative was only able to garner 24 votes.

After the November election, Fruit turned her attention to Tampa, where she hopes to continue in an effort to spread the message of her organization.

"We’re a revolutionary organization, and we believe that the capitalist government needs to be replaced by a government of workers and farmers," Fruit said.

Fruit said she believes that the current government serves only big business and not the working people. She said as the separation between rich and poor grows, a battle between the classes is inevitable, during which the current system could be replaced.

"I think the process of establishing a different social system, which in my opinion would be a socialist system, would be possible," Fruit said. "This will take a revolutionary movement, a mass movement. I think it will happen."

Fruit said once social battles begin, there will be a few ways to turn. One of those ways will be the far right.

"Or you can look toward socialist and Communist ideas that say human solidarity is possible to build a future and not greed," she said. "We’re serious about working people taking power."

In Fruit’s ideal society, most of a person’s income would not be used on bills. She said she would like to see people provided with work, a place to live and medical care.

"People would have to spend their time being productive, being creative, spending the time we have in this world in a way we consider valuable, not just a struggle for survival," Fruit said. "It would have to be an international thing. You would see yourself as a citizen of the world, not just a person in the United States circling the wagons.  
 
Common interests with Iraqi people
"We have more in common with an Iraqi worker or peasant than we do with the government in Washington."

Fruit said she has arrived at these beliefs after 30 years of work in politics. She said her road down the political path began in the 1960s when she became active in the Civil Rights Movement and the movements surrounding the Vietnam War.

"I (was) just trying to figure out, as a young person, why the world was so messed up," Fruit said. "(I wondered) why people had to fight for freedom, for the right to vote (and) the most basic human rights. (I became) convinced it was a product of capitalism."

Fruit said she has worked as a meatpacking worker. In addition, she said she has worked in various unions and in a movement to make abortion legal.

Fruit’s platforms center largely on the national and international issues dominating the news today. She said she believes attacks on immigrants are at a high point right now and is another example of the government defying the working class.

Her platforms include a call to stop what she terms "Washington’s imperialist war drive." She also wants to stop Immigration and Naturalization Service registrations and deportations, fight the death penalty, fight police brutality, defend affirmative action and cancel third-world debt.

Also in her platforms is a call for USF to immediately reinstate Sami Al-Arian to full teaching duty.

Fruit said her movement has limited resources and funding, which leaves her with little chance against her well-funded competitors. But, if she were to beat the odds and become Tampa’s next mayor, she said one of her first focuses would be on USF and Al-Arian.

"I would immediately reinstate Sami Al-Arian. I would use my influence to see that that happens," Fruit said. "I would encourage a movement of students and faculty. [Such] Movements and [others on] these campuses could go a long way [toward winning this fight]."

In addition, Fruit said Tampa is known for its [low-paid] workers. She said that as mayor, she would call for union scale wages that would allow everyone to earn between $12 and $15 per hour.

In the event that she does not win the election, Fruit said she will continue to take her message to all who will listen. She said her movement is a 365-day task. "We don’t have a blueprint," Fruit said. "All we know is we need to struggle for change."  
 
 
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