FORT WORTH, Texas — Marthen Goo, a member of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua, met Socialist Workers Party members George Chalmers and myself in Enid, Oklahoma, Oct. 20. Goo recently moved there and was encouraged by other members of his group to contact the SWP branch here.
Goo described the struggle of West Papuan’s for independence from Indonesia, a fight he has been part of for many years. West Papua is the western half of the South Pacific island of New Guinea.
With the backing of Washington, the Indonesian rulers invaded in 1963 and annexed the ethnically and culturally distinct West Papuan territory. West Papuans face brutal conditions under Indonesian government domination: lack of electricity, poverty, racist abuse and military repression. Capitalists, both from Indonesia and overseas, profit from mining and forestry on the island.
After hearing about the SWP program and 2024 election campaign, Goo endorsed. He also signed up for a one-year subscription to the Militant and bought copies of The Fight Against Jew-Hatred and Pogroms in the Imperialist Epoch; Stakes for the International Working Class; Malcolm X, Black Liberation, and the Road to Workers Power; and Women in Cuba: The Making of a Revolution Within the Revolution. He contributed $20 to the SWP’s Party-Building Fund.
Party members are getting prepublication orders for the new edition of Cosmetics, Fashion and the Exploitation of Women. “We are contacting new subscribers and campaign endorsers about the book and so far have sold four copies,” SWP member Josefina Otero reports from Fort Worth.
There are three weeks left in the campaign to win 1,300 readers to the Militant, get out the same number of books by SWP leaders and other revolutionaries and to raise $140,000 for the SWP Party-Building Fund. Members of the SWP and the Communist Leagues in Australia, Canada and the U.K. are mapping out plans to close in on their quotas for the campaign. The drive ends Nov. 19.
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Timothy Frankland, a retired postal worker, wrote a letter to the Militant thanking Socialist Workers Party presidential candidate Rachele Fruit for taking part in a picket line of his union, the American Postal Workers Union. This was published in the Oct. 14 issue. This past week he also sent a contribution to the SWP Party-Building Fund with a note saying, “Keep up all of your amazing work.”
The fund finances the work of the party, which relies on contributions from working people attracted to its program and activity. Keep the contributions coming!
In Philadelphia, SWP campaigners met Militant reader Troy Wynn at his home. “Why does the coverage in the Militant seem one-sided against the Democrats?” he asked. “The Republicans are bad too, they’re not for us.”
“What workers in the U.S. need is to build a party of labor independent of both of the two main capitalist parties,” replied Ved Dookhun, the SWP candidate for U.S. Senate from Pennsylvania.
“I defend Israel and believe they have to defend themselves,” Wynn said, “but more has to be done to prevent the loss of Palestinian lives.”
“Hamas is responsible for the loss of Palestinian lives by imbedding itself and its weapons in hospitals and schools,” Dookhun replied. “That’s part of its campaign to pressure Israel.” Hamas’ defeat is necessary to prevent more pogroms.
Wynn renewed his subscription for six months and picked up two books, The Low Point of Labor Resistance Is Behind Us: The Socialist Workers Party Looks Forward and The Fight Against Jew-Hatred and Pogroms in the Imperialist Epoch. He also kicked in $5 for the Party-Building Fund.
In Hollywood, Florida, SWP campaigners met Hanna and Paulo Hidalgo on their doorstep Oct. 27. The discussion turned to workers’ resistance to the bosses’ offensive, including wage gains made by the International Longshoremen’s Association during their recent strike at East Coast and Gulf Coast ports. The union is still negotiating on other key issues, with a strike deadline set for Jan. 15.
“Over the years, teachers and other public workers in Florida have lost most of their union rights,” Hanna Hidalgo told the SWP campaigners. “The teachers union is no longer recognized at my school. We have a long road to travel before we win our rights back. We will have to do what workers at Boeing are doing today.” She got a Militant subscription and a copy of The Low Point of Labor Resistance Is Behind Us.
To join in the fall subscription and book campaigns or contribute to the SWP Party-Building Fund contact the party branch nearest you.