At the same time, the SWP election campaign has begun to receive media coverage here. A local radio station and cable television program the Arab Hour recently interviewed Garza.

Siglo 21, a Spanish-language weekly based in Lawrence, Massachusetts, published an article in its August 2-8 issue by Diego Luis Peña álvarez, headlined “SWP nominates candidates for governor and Congress.”

“The Socialist Workers Party nominated two workers as its candidates for governor of Massachusetts and for Congress,” the article began.

“The aspiring governor, John Hawkins, is a worker at a meat cutting and distributing plant and has been an arduous fighter for Black rights. He was the promoter of the march on Washington demanding no U.S. intervention in the internal politics of Cuba and Venezuela,” it said.

“Laura Garza…herself is a veteran union fighter and a firm defender of immigrant rights.”

At a recent meeting “celebrated on Bennington Street in East Boston,” the article said, they both announced their platform, which includes demands for “the immediate withdrawal of U.S. military forces from Iraq and Afghanistan; opposition to economic and military threats against Iran; to cancel the foreign debt of semi-colonial countries; amnesty and permanent residency for all undocumented, and to stop the workplace raids and deportations.”

The SWP candidates also call for “the elimination of federal laws demanding that bosses verify the immigration status of their workers; they demand affordable credits for small farmers; to abolish the death penalty; oppose the cuts in Social Security; and they intend to eliminate all laws restricting civil rights of gays and lesbians,” the article concluded.

Socialist campaign supporters said they plan to file the nominating petitions to place Garza on the ballot at the Massachusetts State House August 17 and will hold a news conference there. Hawkins is running as a write-in candidate.
 
 
Related articles:
Socialist Workers Party candidates: Israeli forces out of Lebanon!
U.S. troops out of Iraq, Afghanistan!
SWP supporters complete ballot drive in Iowa
SWP candidate on Pennsylvania ballot
Victory in ending use of state ‘loyalty oath’ gets publicity
Socialist Workers Party candidates in 2006
Nat’l conference in Chicago to discuss actions for legalization of immigrants
Immigrant rights leader speaks in N.Y., Boston
Boston: protesters counter anti-immigrant rally  
 
 
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