December 25, 1995
Washington has launched an aggressive propaganda campaign to justify the drive toward war in Yugoslavia. President Bill Clinton set the tone in a December 2 address to thousands of U.S. troops, who were headed for Bosnia.
“There could be incidents with people who have still not given up their hatred,” the president emphasized. “Everyone should know that when America comes to help make the peace, America will still look after its own.”
Clinton claimed that this time the U.S. military is being mobilized “not with a call to war, but a call to peace.” Their purpose, he said, is to enforce a U.S.-brokered “peace” deal signed in Dayton, Ohio, which calls for the partition of Bosnia.
Capitalist politicians and commentators have been stepping up the pro-war propaganda, directed particularly against Muslim “zealots” and Serbs.
December 25, 1970
CHICAGO — Following the 18-hour national rail strike, which was outlawed by a special act of Congress, an emergency meeting was called by leaders of eight locals of the United Transportation Union in the Chicago area.
The meeting set up a committee to publicize the plight of railway workers and win the support of unions and other sections of the American public for the right of railroad workers to strike.
A guest speaker was Wayne Kennedy, cochairman of the Chicago Joint Council of the American Federation of Government Employees, who said, “Not only must the railroad unions take militant strike action to secure justice for their membership, but that the American public should take the railroads away from the few corrupt multimillionaires and turn the management of this vital industry over to the real experts — the railroad workers.”
December 29, 1945
LOS ANGELES — Two weeks after a vigilante threat to O’Day H. Short if he didn’t vacate his property at Fontana, 50 miles from here, a fire of unexplained origin destroyed his home and burned his wife and two children to death.
Short, a Los Angeles man prevented by race restrictions from finding a home in Los Angeles, bought property in Fontana. After he had moved his family into the partially completed house, local real estate dealer J. Sutherland delivered the threat from the vigilante committee. “If I were you, I’d get my family off of this property at once,” he said.
Attorney Thomas L. Griffith, president of the Los Angeles Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, called a meeting of all interested parties December 20, to collect information and plan further action.