That’s how an appeal by a number of prominent individuals, mostly from northeast Pennsylvania, begins.

It continues: “We ask you to join with us in defense of civil discourse, free political exchange and debate, and the right of the Socialist Workers Party to campaign free of harassment and attack.

“Join us to:

“• Send an urgent message to Hazleton mayor Louis Barletta, City Hall, 40 N. Church St., Hazleton, PA 18201, urging that all possible steps be taken to apprehend those responsible for the arson attack and to prosecute them to the full extent of the law. The Mayor can be contacted at 570-459-4910, or faxed at 570-459-4966. Please send copies to the Socialist Workers Campaign at [69 North Wyoming St., Hazleton, PA 18201].

“• Send a message of solidarity to the Socialist Workers campaign protesting this attack and defending their right to campaign free of harassment.

“• Send a much needed contribution to help rebuild their office. Make checks payable to Socialist Workers 2004 Campaign, earmarked “Rebuilding Fund,” and mail to the Socialist Workers Campaign at the address above.

“Only a vigorous and broad public response can beat back attacks like this one and defend the right to civil discourse and to practice politics free from harassment.”

The appeal is signed by Monsignor Michael Delaney, pastor of the St. Gabriel Church; Douglas McKeeby, pastor of the Trinity Lutheran Church; Walter Howard, professor of history at Bloomsburg University; Anna Arias, from the Pennsylvania Governor’s Advisory Commission on Latino Affairs; Umberto Hernández, owner of Umberto’s International Cuisine restaurant; Beverly Collins, an activist in the Wilkes-Barre Black community; Kassie Harding, president of UNITE HERE Local 133-1 at Hollander Home Fashions; David Greenleif, UNITE HERE union representative; Gregory O’Connell, an attorney; and Róger Calero, SWP presidential candidate.

We wholeheartedly agree with the signers and urge action along the lines they suggest.

The firebombing in Hazleton, and a virtually simultaneous arson attack on the White House Café in the Black community in nearby Wilkes-Barre, are signs of the times. They are by-products of the assaults by the employers and the government on the wages, working conditions, living standards, and political rights of working people. This bipartisan offensive results in sharpening class polarization and produces a climate in which civil discourse is used less and less in bourgeois politics. This in turn emboldens rightists and racists to carry out such assaults.

There is no reason to believe, however, that civil rights advocates, socialists, or freethinkers of all varieties should expect similar attacks to be quickly generalized around the United States. The class struggle has not reached a point where the ruling class needs to act this way to safeguard its property and prerogatives. But as the signers of the appeal quoted above explain, only a quick, vigorous, and broad public campaign in this and any other similar instance can beat back such attacks and minimize the chance they will be repeated.
 
 
Related articles:
Protest firebombings of socialist campaign hall, café in Pennsylvania
Unionists, Black community leaders, others: prosecute arsonists!  
 
 
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