BAUAW NEWSLETTER-TUES.-THURS. NOV. 23-25, 2004

Bay Area United Against War Presents

a film screening of:



"WMD: Weapons of Mass Deception"



Meet film director Danny Schechter "The News Dissector." He will be
available for a question and answer period right after the movie.



Saturday, Dec. 11th, 2004

(Showtime to be announced)

Embarcadero Center Cinema

One Embarcadero Center, Promenade Level

San Francisco, CA 94111

(415) 267-4893



" 'WMD' paints a meticulous and damning portrait of the media's coverage of
the Iraq war. In sobering detail, Danny Schechter shows us how the TV
networks now prefer the role of cheerleader, to that of objective
journalist," says Mike Nisholson of austinnforkerry.org.



"Schechter tackles his subject like a cross between Errol Morris and a
Dashiell Hammet detective, following close on the tail of big media
reporters as they in turn track the march toward war, embed themselves in
the military industrial complex and then get out when the fighting gets
tough and leave the cleanup work to stringers, " writes Shandon Fowler of
film's Hamptons International Film Festival appearance, Oct. 20-24.



To learn more about the film visit:

www.wmdthefilm.org

www.bauaw.org



(Distributed by Cinema Libre Studio, www.cinemalibrestudio.com)



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1) Fallujah Refugees

** Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches **

** http://dahrjamailiraq.com **

November 23, 2004

(See below...bw)



2) Occupier of a Prime Minister's Chair

** Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches *

November 23, 2004

(See below...bw)



3) U.S. Starts New Offensive South of Baghdad

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP)

Filed at 12:13 p.m. ET

November 23, 2004

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Iraq.html?hp&ex=1101272400&
en=049a4b3f977459eb&ei=5094&partner=homepage

(link only...bw)





4) U.S. Death Toll in Iraq for Nov. Tops 100

By ROBERT BURNS

AP Military Writer

WASHINGTON (AP)

Nov 23, 8:01 AM EST

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/IRAQ_MARINE_DEATHS?SITE=NYSTA&SECTION
=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

(Link only...bw)



5) Iraq: the unthinkable becomes normal

John Pilger

Green Left Weekly, issue #607, November 24, 2004

Mainstream media speak as if Fallujah were populated only by foreign
"insurgents". In fact, women and children are being slaughtered in our name.

http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2004/607/607p15.htm

(Link only...bw)



6) Convention Protesters File Lawsuit Over Detentions

By JULIA PRESTON

November 23, 2004

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/23/nyregion/23protest.html?oref=login

(Link only...bw)



7) Confusion Reigns as U.S. Raid Misses Target in Iraq

By Luke Baker

MOSUL, Iraq

Published on Tuesday, November 23, 2004 by Reuters

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1123-09.htm

(Link only...bw)



8) The Netherlands tobogganing from crisis to crisis

The end of the "polder" model

By Erik Demeester

(See below...bw)



9) In a Land Torn by Violence, Too Many Troubling Deaths

CASES WITHOUT BORDERS

By JUAN FORERO

RIOSUCIO, Colombia

November 23, 2004

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/23/health/psychology/23trib.html

(Link only...bw)



10) Alert! Fed Massive Raid and Arrest Chinese Restaurant

Workers Across U.S.!

National Immigrant Solidarity Network Urgent Updates

November 23, 2004

URL: http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org


(See below...bw)



11) MILLION CON MARCH!

(See below...bw)



12) Rights Group Calls on Caterpillar to Halt Bulldozer Sales to Israel

By Jim Lobe

WASHINGTON

Published on Tuesday, November 23, 2004 by OneWorld.net

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1123-02.htm

(Link only...bw)



13) A Mother Deported, and a Child Left Behind

By NINA BERNSTEIN

November 24, 2004

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/24/nyregion/24deport.html?oref=login

(Link only...bw)



---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*



1) Fallujah Refugees

** Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches **

** http://dahrjamailiraq.com **

November 23, 2004



"Doctors in Fallujah are reporting there are patients in the hospital

there who were forced out by the Americans," said Mehdi Abdulla, a 33

year-old ambulance driver at a hospital in Baghdad, "Some doctors there

told me they had a major operation going, but the soldiers took the

doctors away and left the patient to die." He looks at the ground, then

away to the distance.



Honking cars fill the chaotic street outside the hospital where they'd

just received brand new desks. The empty boxes are strewn about outside.

Um Mohammed, a doctor at the hospital sat behind her old, wooden desk.

"How can I take a new desk when there are patients dying because we

don't have medicine for them," she asked while holding her hands in the

air, "They should build a lift so patients who can't walk can be taken

to surgery, and instead we have these new desks!" Her eyes were piercing

with fire, while yet another layer of frustration is folded into her work.



"And there are still a few Iraqis who think the Americans came to

liberate them," she added while looking out the broken window. The glass

lay about outside-shattered from a car bomb that had detonated in front

of the hospital. "These people will change their minds about the

liberators when they, too, have had a family member killed by them."



Mehdi then takes us to a refugee camp of Fallujans over on the campus of

the University of Baghdad. Tents

00_3331>

surround an old mosque. Kids run about

00_3335>,

several of them kicking around a half-inflated soccer ball. Some women

are using two water taps to clean pots and wash clothing. Many people

stand around, walking aimlessly, waiting.



We contact a sheikh for permission to talk to some of the families. He

greets us then says, "You can see how much we have suffered. We have 97

families here now, with 50 more coming tomorrow. People are kidnapping

refugee children and selling them."



A 35 year-old merchant from Fallujah, Abu Hammad, starts telling us what

he experienced, and barely breathes while doing so because he is so enraged.



"The American warplanes came continuously through the night and bombed

everywhere in Fallujah! It did not stop even for a moment! If the

American forces did not find a target to bomb, they used sound bombs

just to terrorize the people and children. The city stayed in fear; I

cannot give a picture of how panicked everyone was."



He is shaking with grief and anger. "In the mornings I found Fallujah

empty, as if nobody lives in it. Even poisonous gases have been used in

Fallujah-they used everything-tanks, artillery, infantry, poison gas.

Fallujah has been bombed to the ground. Nothing is left."



Several men standing with us, other refugees, nod in agreement while

looking at the setting sun, the direction of Fallujah.



Abu Hammad continues, "Most of the innocent people there stayed in

mosques to be closer to God for safety. Even the wounded people were

killed. Old ladies with white flags were killed by the Americans! The

Americans announced for people to come to a certain mosque if they

wanted to leave Fallujah, and even the people who went there carrying

white flags were killed!"



One of the men standing with us, a large man named Mohammad Ali is

crying; his large body shuddering with each bit of new information

revealed by Abu Hammad.



"There was no food, no electricity, no water," continues Abu Hammad, "We

couldn't even light a candle because the Americans would see it and kill

us."



He pauses, then asks, "This suffering of the people, I would like to ask

everyone in the world if they have seen suffering like this. The people

in Fallujah are only Fallujans. Ayad Allawi was a liar when he said

there are foreign fighters there."



He continues on, "There are bodies the Americans threw in the river. I

saw them do this! And anyone who stayed thought they would be killed by

the Americans, so they tried to swim across the river. Even then the

Americans shot them with rifles from the shore! Even if some of them

were holding a white flag or white clothes over their heads to show they

are not fighters, they were all shot! Even people who couldn't swim

tried to cross the river! They drowned rather than staying to be killed

by the Americans."



Mohammad cuts in and begins his plea. He is from the Julan district of

Fallujah, where much of the heaviest fighting occurred, and continues to

occur. "They call us terrorists when we live in the city. We own the

city. We didn't go to fight the Americans-they came to our city to fight

us. Fallujans are defending our city, our houses, our mosques, our

honor. Ayad Allawi says we are his family-can you attack your family

Allawi? Do you attack your own family Allawi?"



He now raises his hands to the sky

00_3339>

and asks loudly, "We are asking Islam, all the Islamic countries to have

a clear conscience to look at what is happening to Fallujah. We were the

most secured city with the police and ING (Iraqi National Guard) without

the presence of the Americans. But now when we come to Baghdad we are

afraid because our cars and belongings will be looted."



His large body continues to shudder as he talks on, "We did not feel

that there is Eid after Ramadan this year because of our situation being

so bad. All we have is more fasting. They said they are going to

reconstruct Fallujah-but I would like to ask when and how, and what did

they do to Sadr City when they stopped fighting there? They did nothing."



I notice a man with one leg sitting near the mosque

00_3329>

nodding while he smokes his cigarette while Mohammad continues, "I would

like to ask the whole world-why is this? I tell the presidents of the

Arab and Muslim countries to wake up! Wake up please! We are being

killed, we are refugees from our houses, our children have nothing-not

even shoes to wear! Wake up! Wake up! Stop being traitors! Be human

beings and not the dummies of the Americans!"



He is weeping even more when he adds, "I left Fallujah yesterday and I

am handicapped. I asked God to save us but our house was bombed and I

lost everything."



As Mohammad no longer speaks, a 40 year-old refugee, Khalil, speaks up.

"When the Americans come to our city we refuse to accept any foreigner

coming to invade us. We accept the ING's but not the Americans. Nobody

has seen any Zarqawi. If the Americans don't come in our city, who do

Fallujans attack? Fallujans don't attack other Iraqis. Fallujans only

attack the American troops when they come inside or near our city."



Rather than weeping like so many others I interviewed, Khalil is raging.

His sadness is being covered with anger. "If we have a government-the

government should solve the suffering of the people. Our government does

not do this-instead they are always attacking us, our government is a

dummy government. They are not here to help us. The Minister of Defense

and Interior are speaking that we are their family-so why do they

collapse our houses on our heads? Why do they kill all of us?"



But then tears find his eyes, and while pointing to several small

children nearby he says, "Eid is over. Ramadan is over-and the kids

00_3343>

are remaining without even a smile. They have nothing and nowhere to go.

We used to take them to parks to amuse them, but now we don't even have

a house for them."



He continues pointing at the children, along with some women nearby,

"What about the children? What did they do? What about the women? I

can't describe the situation in Fallujah and the condition of the

people-Fallujah is suffering too much, it is almost gone now."



He then explains, "We got some supplies from the good people of Baghdad,

and some volunteer doctors came on their own with some medicines, but

they ran out daily because conditions are so bad. We saw nothing from

the Ministry of Health-no medicines or doctors or anything."



He said those who left Fallujah did not think they would be gone so

long, so they brought only their summer clothes. Now it is quite cold at

night, down to 10 degrees C at night and windy much of the time. Khalil

adds, "We need more clothes. It's a disaster we are living in here at

this camp. We are living like dogs and the kids do not have enough

clothes."



As of today, a spokesman for the Iraqi Red Crescent told me none of

their relief teams had been allowed into Fallujah, and the military said

it would be at least two more weeks before any refugees would be allowed

into their city.



More writing, photos and commentary at http://dahrjamailiraq.com



You are subscribed to the Dahr Jamail's email Iraq Dispatches because you
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---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*



2) Occupier of a Prime Minister's Chair

** Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches *

November 23, 2004



Dahr Jamail



BAGHDAD, Nov 23 (IPS) - The prime minister is following in the footsteps

of the last president. The rule of Ayad Allawi, the U.S. appointed

interim prime minister of Iraq, is now more in the style of the

dictatorship of Saddam Hussein than a leader of a supposedly democratic

state.



Most Iraqis had celebrated the overthrow of the regime of Saddam

Hussein. But under what has developed into a brutal and bloody

occupation people are turning against the interim prime minister as they

turned against Saddam.



One of Allawi's earliest moves after his appointment was to form a new

version of the feared secret police in Iraq. The Economist reported that

Allawi's rivals accused him of "recruiting former torturers to man a new

apparatus of oppression."



In July Paul McGeogh of the Sydney Morning Herald reported that two

eyewitnesses saw Allawi execute six people at the security centre in the

al-Amadiyah district of Baghdad. The men had been detained for allegedly

attacking U.S. forces two weeks before the handover of power.



The appointed interim prime minister has instituted martial law,

threatened to detain journalists, and banned the Arab channel al-Jazeera

from reporting within Iraq. Allawi's minister of justice has brought

back the death penalty and spoken of chopping off the hands and heads of

those described as insurgents.



Now comes the siege of Fallujah. At a refugee camp in Baghdad filled

with families from the besieged city, anger erupts at the mention of

Allawi's name.



"Ayad Allawi says we are his family," said Mohammad Ali, a 53-year-old

refugee wounded by U.S. bombs in his home in Fallujah. "Can you attack

your family, Allawi? Do you attack your own family, Allawi?"



Allawi is a traitor to the people of Iraq, said Dr. Um Mohammed who

works at a hospital in Baghdad. "He is an American puppet who enjoys the

killing of Iraqis." A trader in central Baghdad Abdel Hakim Abdulla said

Allawi has "never made a decision that benefits Iraqis."



Anger is building up against Allawi also over the role he played before

he was appointed interim prime minister. He is the man many hold

responsible for providing fraudulent intelligence that Saddam Hussein

posed a threat to the United States.



His now discredited statements to U.S. intelligence that Saddam Hussein

had links to the terrorist attacks of Sep. 11 were used to justify the

invasion of Iraq. This had shaken his credibility amongst Iraqis from

the beginning.



The right-wing Daily Telegraph of London published a "newly discovered"

document from Allawi Dec. 14 last year. Allawi, who was then a member of

the Iraqi Governing Council stated that the mastermind of the Sep. 11

terrorist attacks Mohammad Atta had been trained in Iraq with support

from Saddam Hussein.



This fraudulent information was cited by U.S. intelligence as compelling

evidence that Saddam Hussein had contacts with al-Qaeda. It was cited as

justification for the failing occupation of Iraq.



A second part of the memo also believed to have been provided by Allawi

alleged shipment of uranium from Niger to Iraq. This is another claim

that has been proved false.



Allawi was reported by the International Herald Tribune to have said

that Saddam Hussein had stashed billions of dollars in banks around the

world. No evidence of these billions has emerged.



Allawi again was said again to have provided the 'intelligence' in a

British government dossier that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction

which could be made operational in 45 minutes, according to a report in

the New York Times May 29 this year. This 'intelligence' has been

acknowledged to be false.



Allawi, a Shia Muslim, was "unanimously nominated" to the post of

interim prime minister May 28 by the U.S.-appointed former Iraqi

Governing Council.



Adam Daifallah wrote in the New York Sun that Allawi heads a group

comprising primarily former Baathist associates of deposed dictator

Saddam Hussein and "has received funding from the CIA (Central

Intelligence Agency of the United States) and has unsuccessfully worked

with American intelligence for years to oust Saddam through coup attempts."



Born in Baghdad in 1946 into a well-known business family, Allawi became

a member of the Baath party after it rose to power. He left Iraq in 1971

to go to university in London, and did not return to his home country

until just after the U.S.-led invasion last year.



You are subscribed to the Dahr Jamail's email Iraq Dispatches because you
requested a subscription at some point.



You can visit http://dahrjamailiraq.com/email_list/ to subscribe or
unsubscribe to the email list.



Or, you can unsubscribe by sending an email to
iraq_dispatches-request@dahrjamailiraq.com and write unsubscribe in the
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---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*



8) The Netherlands tobogganing from crisis to crisis

The end of the "polder" model

By Erik Demeester





Rarely have we seen a country being catapulted from being one of the most
stable and apparently harmonious parts of the world into a profound abyss of
instability and uncertainty. This is the story of the Netherlands over the
last two and a half years.



It all started with the economy. After a period of rapid economic growth in
the 1990's, well above the average of the other European countries, the GDP
of the Netherlands has since moved at a snail's pace. From a peak of more
than 7 percent in 2000 the economic growth fell to a mere 2 percent in 2003.
Over the last five years the economy has gone through a severe boom-and-bust
cycle. This is because of the high dependence on world trade, which has made
the country very sensitive to changes on the world market. The "polder"
model, which consists in the agreement that all big social and economical
changes are to be negotiated between the government, the unions and the
bosses, was clearly going to be seriously tested by this new situation.
Through the polder model - a policy of intense class collaboration - the
idea was cultivated of finding solutions to problems thanks to compromise
and consensus. Dutch people, and also the workers, had even come to believe
that consummate pragmatism and the tendency of avoiding conflict had become
part of their national character.



A model under attack



The raw economic growth figures of the 1990's did not say everything about
was happening in Dutch society. They hid the real social situation. The
price for the economic progress was paid with wage restraint, the
multiplication of short-term contracts, increased flexibility and
generalised social insecurity inside and outside the workplace. Yes, the
unemployment figures were lower than in neighbouring countries. But the
number of people living off disability allowances was higher than the number
of jobless workers. Many older, worn out and sick workers who couldn't stand
the strain and stress anymore were channelled into those schemes. These are
the same schemes that are now cynically being attacked by the right-wing
government of Balkenende.



All this took place with the support and active collaboration of the leaders
of the trade unions and the social democratic party, the PVDA. Those were
the years of coalition governments of the PVDA with the liberal VVD and
"social-liberal" D66, known as the "Purple Coalition". The social peace
imposed by this alliance of forces against the working class started to
break down. Protests against mismanagement, for instance in the national
railways (NS), were only possible thanks to the launching of "workers'
collectives", built outside the unions and dubbed as anarchist by the media.
At that time this seemed to be the only way of breaking the stranglehold of
the union bureaucracy. Further to this, "senseless violence" and cases of
extreme anti-social behaviour increased the feelings of alienation and
malaise within Dutch society.



There was an all-pervading hermetic "political correctness" which refused to
even recognise the existence of these problems in a country like the
Netherlands. "Problems in the world?" Not here in the Netherlands, where all
causes of tension are eradicated before they can emerge, was the prevailing
idea. There are few countries where the tensions between the considerable
material and technological possibilities on the one hand and the lack of
harmony in society on the other hand are so vivid as in the Netherlands.



Slowly but surely the feeling that "Holland is full" was penetrating into
the minds of a section of the Dutch people. As in other European countries,
this was a contradictory phenomenon. On the one hand it had a reactionary
side to it ("we are full of immigrants") and on the other hand it had a more
progressive content (the feeling that the country was full of stress and
frustration).



Due to the lack of a left alternative this tension would sooner or later be
channelled in an extreme rightward direction. In this the Netherlands was no
different from any other country. The only difference was that it tried to
take the form of something a little more subtle than the not so subtle
demagogy of the Flemish Vlaams Blok that had penetrated Flemish minds as
early as the early '90s. This is shown by the fact that the crypto-fascists
of Janmaat and his gang, failed to get any significant support for their
reactionary ideas among the Dutch population. Given the previous long
history of so-called social peace and tolerance, the right-wing
reactionaries could not present themselves for what they really are. They
had to disguise somewhat their real nature. Thus, in order to sell to the
Dutch people an extreme right-wing stock of ideas, one had to offer a bit
more than mere racist mudslinging.



The rise and fall of Pim Fortuyn



"Something is going wrong" was a feeling shared by more and more people. For
Pim Fortuyn, a well-spoken maverick professor, this was fertile terrain for
his anti-establishment diatribes and racist demagogy. This man, who had
written plenty of books on the lost soul of Europe, spoilt people, etc., was
the accidental figure who was fill in the vacuum in Dutch politics, breaking
down the dominant politics of consensus. His speeches struck a chord amongst
broad layers of society, of course with the help of the media and his
reactionary friends.



Pim Fortuyn, racist

demagogue



Very soon he began to rise like a rocket in the opinion polls. His quickly
assembled political formation "Lijst Pim Fortuyn" (LPF) rapidly became an
electoral success. The LPF was never a fascist threat to the country and
could not even be compared to the classic extreme right-wing parties such as
the Front National in France or the Vlaams Blok in Belgium, which he even
openly denounced. Pim Fortuyn was a reactionary upstart that seemed to come
from nowhere, but he fed on the accumulated frustrations coming from the
depths of society. He was a medieval witch doctor, a charlatan who after a
bleeding... prescribes another bleeding - but he was at least able to put
across what seemed a convincing case to wide layers of the electorate.
However, he was a superficial and temporary phenomenon. But the social and
political frustrations that he vented in a distorted way will prove not to
be superficial at all.



Then something happened which stupefied the country. Pim Fortuyn was
assassinated a few days before the national elections by a Green activist.
The commotion provoked by this killing is difficult to describe. People did
not believe that a politically motivated assassination could take place in
the Netherlands. In Haiti yes, in the United States also, but in the
Netherlands? No, this was unthinkable. But many unthinkable and "un-Dutch"
things were to surprise the Netherlands in the period that followed.



A feeling of defiance toward the political elite started to spread rapidly.
Thousands of people gathered spontaneously in the streets not only to mourn
their hero, but also to protest against the "Purple" government. People went
so far as to accuse government ministers of being responsible for the murder
of Pim Fortuyn. It was clear something had profoundly changed in Dutch
society.



Storms ahead



The 2002 elections had the effect of temporarily defusing the anger as many
people found an outlet in the ballot box. The posthumous election success of
the Pim Fortuyn List in reality proved to be the undoing of the Purple
coalition of the PVDA, D66 and VVD. It also prepared the ground for a
homogenous right-wing government consisting of the Christian Democratic CDA
and the LPF. In those elections the PVDA lost a lot of its support and the
Left Socialist party picked up some of the pieces.



The LPF, without Pim Fortuyn, rapidly disintegrated amongst a lot of
infighting. The first right-wing government was crisis ridden and gave way
to new elections were the PVDA regained some lost ground but not enough to
be able to impose a new "Purple" scenario.



Even before the killing of Pim Fortuyn we had announced that a heavy storm
was gathering over the Netherlands. We wrote in Vonk , the paper of the
Belgian Marxists in April 2002: "In the next period the unions will be in
the frontline of the fight against social and political breakdown. Social
peace will de facto come to an end. If the union leadership does not do it
the government will."



Prime Minister Balkenende knows his friends



The second option was the more realistic one. The new right-wing government,
Balkenende II, this time also joined by the "social-liberal" D66, decided to
go for a unilateral break with the polder model of consensus politics. The
capitalists were demanding a rapid movement towards a programme of counter
reforms, attacks against the welfare state and a worsening of wages and
labour conditions. This was in order to be more competitive in the harsh
conditions of the world market. Negotiations with the unions, the middle of
the road policy of giving and taking, were seen as obstacles to a swift
demolition operation. The liberal leader Bolkestein illustrated this idea by
saying, "consensus is a good thing but a good policy is even better".



The bosses and the right-wing government calculated that they would not
encounter much resistance from the unions even if they were to push then to
one side. At first the union leadership tried to cling desperately to their
role of obedient middlemen between the workers and the bosses. They accepted
a new period of wage restraint. This was grudgingly accepted by a majority
of members in a ballot. More and more self-confident as a result of those
clear signs of weakness on the part of the union leadership, the government
and the bosses increased the intensity of their attacks against the welfare
state. Their targets were the early retirement schemes (VUT, pre-pension),
the age of retirement, unemployment benefits and the disability allowances
(WAO). This led to a breakdown in negotiations in the middle of May of this
year. The union leaders of the main federations FNV, CNV and MHP faced a
fait accompli, which stunned them. They were left like fish out of water.
The leader of the 1,2 million-member FNV union, Lodewijk de Waal, confessed
after having left the negotiation table: "Now we are stuck".



Workers arise



The pressure was also increasing in the workplaces. When faced with the
question in a new ballot if the union leaders were correct to oppose the
plans of the government, 97 percent of the members voted yes. Significantly,
the participation of the members in this later ballot doubled in comparison
with the earlier one. This was a symptom of a growing awakening of important
layers of the working class.



During the summer the government continued to plan and carry out all kinds
of measures of counter-reform in other fields as well. The front against the
Balkenende government was growing. A coalition of more than 500
organisations was formed under the banner of "Turn the Tide". This was
another symptom of growing defiance. Things could not go on like they had
done before. Reluctantly the union leaders were forced to issue a plan of
action and mobilise their members. The reaction from below was overwhelming.



Working class is not

a dirty word anymore



On the September 20th the main centres of activity were paralysed in
Rotterdam as a result of a 24-hour strike. The Rotterdam docks, the biggest
port in the world, were closed. The unions had been expecting 10,000
demonstrators to turn up that day. Six times that figure turned up: 60,000
workers marched over the main bridges of the city into the centre. The town
hall was briefly occupied by firefighters. Left-wing trade unionists
organised in a committee named "Enough is enough" played an important role
in this amazing turnout. A daily paper carried the significant title "The
hammer and sickle is flying again in Rotterdam". Rotterdam used to be a
bulwark of the Communists in the past. The fighting traditions of the Dutch
workers are coming back. The left-wing FNV trade union leader, Niek Stam, of
the dockworkers answered the question why they were selling T-shirts with
the English words "working class" to support their struggle in this way:
"The term 'working class' is becoming popular. Especially when we say it in
English our young people like it". (see: www.maatisvol.nl )



An old bastion of the working class takes the lead



The right wing pretended that nothing had happened. But Rotterdam was
clearly a turning point and the less arrogant and obtuse ministers and
bosses started to see this. The union leaders could not believe their eyes
either. After Rotterdam other sections of the working class wanted to come
out in protest, including the police! What would the next national demo on
October 2nd bring? This was a demo on a Saturday and without a strike. The
result was even more impressive: more than a quarter of a million
demonstrated in Amsterdam (see Netherlands: Reawakening of the Dutch working
class). The character of the demo was not purely trade union but it brought
out a broader and larger layer of the working class and youth.



Pressed by the media to comment on this turnout the Minister of Finances
Zalm just said, "I wave to them". More and more workers and activists were
demanding a national 24-hour general strike as the next step. Union
membership was also undergoing important growth. The service union ABVAKABO,
for instance, has reported that the rate of growth of its membership in
September and October was ten times higher than in the same period in
previous years.



Sjaak van der Velden, a specialist in the history of strike movements in the
Netherlands puts the strikes of the autumn in perspective thus:



"Thirty years of cuts, in particular in the public services, have created a
lot of anger. The only thing was the absence of a reaction against this.
Maybe we can understand the rise of Fortuyn also in this context. In fact,
changes were already visible during the demonstrations against the invasion
of Iraq in February 2002. I also think it has something to do with the
movement after the WTO summit in Seattle in 1999 and all the other
international summits. You notice now that discontent has found a channel.
The funny thing about this is that if we believe the dominant ideology since
the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 these things should not have happened.
This makes the demonstration of October 2 more special."



The gigantic demonstration of October 2nd was followed by a plan of what was
described as "relay" strikes involving all sections of industry in stoppages
at different days over a period of a month and a half. It was not intended
to culminate in an all-industry general strike, although some unions were
pressing for such a strike on November 9th.



Crescendo of strikes



The trade union leadership also toyed with the idea of demanding a
referendum as a way of protesting against the government policy. We think
that would have been a wrong tactic, and it was clearly a way of avoiding
showing the real power of the working class in the struggle against the
government. A referendum would involve layers of society not affected by the
government measures, such as the bourgeois themselves and the middle
classes. The questions posed in such a referendum would also be limited to a
few measures on pensions and not the whole package, thus replacing the need
for a more consistent effort through strikes, demonstrations, etc. A
referendum would also not be legally binding on the government. It would not
be bound by the verdict. It would only have been consultative.



At the end the dynamic of demonstrations and strikes got the upper hand. The
first to go on strike after October 2nd were the transport workers (public
and private) on October 14th. This was also a big success. It was the
biggest turnout in this sector for fifteen years. Interestingly, activists
commented that this time in the railway stations commuters were not hostile
towards the strike. This was not the case in the past.



The readiness to mobilise has increased with every step of the movement. Two
weeks after the "mega-demo" of October 2nd a RTL4 poll on the same day of
the transport stoppage showed that 51 percent supported the public transport
strike. And seventy-one percent of the respondents were in favour of even
harder actions against the government.



Two weeks later the engineering workers downed tools. Two hundred factories
closed involving 22,000 workers. Here again it was the biggest strike in
this industry for 15 years.



There was a clear crescendo in the level of participation, the willingness
to struggle and the spread of the protest movement throughout the country.
Nevertheless, the tactic of "relay" strikes also had a dangerous side to it.
The danger was that without a clear goal of a national 24-hour general
strike involving all sectors (a demanded that was being posed by a layer of
the rank and file) this tactic would have the effect of dissipating the
energy of the workers involved.



Cracks and fissures



The biggest danger, however, was to be found in the official programme of
demands of the trade union leaders and their clear desire to use these
mobilisations in order to win back their seats at the negotiation tables of
the institutions of social partnership. Here we see how the union tops
derive their position of privileged buffer between the workers and capital.
The demands of the leaders of the union can be summarised as demanding a
"softening" of the attacks. They themselves had in fact already agreed to
the ending of the age of retirement at 60 and to other counter-reforms in
social security. What they wanted was to be able to "correct" them socially
- whatever that means - and to be able to implement them jointly with the
government and the bosses. The demands of the workers were clear: "No
dismantling of the welfare state! No to wage restraint and to the increase
in the cost of living." Workers demanded no changes to their rights to
disability allowances and early retirement, and they also demanded good
pensions and not the poverty levels the bosses are proposing.



The façade of unanimity of the government started to fissure. The CDA
especially, which has some links with the CNV union, began to grow nervous.
Forty-five CDA members of parliament demanded a more equitable social policy
on the part of the government. The liberal VVD and D'66 parties held another
opinion and continued to provoke the workers.



Splits also appeared in the ranks of the bosses. The organisation of small
and medium sized companies appealed for an agreement with the unions. The
organisation of bosses of the building industry, Cobouw, publicly criticised
the government and the bigger companies who didn't want an agreement with
the unions. A very interesting editorial ("Monomania of the government will
cost the Netherlands a lot of money") on the website of Cobouw states: "It
looks as if the VNO-NCW (general bosses' organisation) and the government
have an agenda to curtail the power of the unions. This is said to be
necessary to reduce the costs of production and to increase competitiveness.
[But] the social resistance against this cabinet is such that actions and
strikes are becoming the rule and not the exception. And this is going to
cost money." (Cobouw, October 9, 2004)



The bosses' division, although significant, does not mean that they do not
share the same interests and objectives. They would like to see the increase
of the competitiveness of Dutch industry on the back of the workers.
However, they do not agree on the method to achieve it. Some would want to
get the union leadership to be involved as a way of containing mass protests
and the cost of these. Another layer is ready to sit out the ride of the
tug-of-war with the workers and has also the necessary reserves for it which
is not the case with the smaller and medium sized companies.



Strong working class and weak leadership



The bosses and the right-wing parties had clearly underestimated the
capacity of the working class to react. They tend to gauge the mood of the
working class by the cowardice and weakness of the trade union leaders. This
vision was undoubtedly also shared by the leaders of the left parties PVDA
and SP and also by the trade union leaders, who believe that their own
conservative outlook reflects that of their members. The trade union leaders
were forced against their will to open the door slightly to mobilisation and
discontent, at the same time opening a Pandora's box of anger and protest.



The cabinet could even have been overthrown in these conditions. Sources in
government circles indicated growing fears of a cabinet crisis. "The leader
of the Christian Democratic faction in the senate, Jos Werner, predicts that
if nothing is done the cabinet will fall within three weeks." ( Trouw,
November 11, 2004)



Polls also show that the right-wing cabinet has lost popular support and
that the left PVDA, SP and Groen Links (the Greens) would have a majority if
new elections were to be called. As soon as they realised this, the bosses
and the right wing tried to open secret negotiations with the union
leaders... in the kitchen of one of the ministers! After a few weeks a deal
was struck, which made the leaders of the union very euphoric.



The deal is a bad deal: the concessions made by the government do not alter
the fundamental questions. The objectives of social counter-reforms have not
been stopped. The only real difference is that now these will be implemented
with the help of the trade union leaders. The question of wage moderation is
typical of this approach. The government, which had proposed a law in
parliament introducing a zero level for wage increases, has withdrawn it as
a result of the deal. In exchange for this "concession" the unions committed
themselves to serious efforts of self-restraint in wage demands! In other
words, the union leaders will act as the economic policeman of the bosses on
the shop floor.



It might not be as easy as they imagine. Many workers hope to "correct" the
effects of national measures by better deals at local levels. The deal is
being presented for approval at a ballot of the members in the next few
weeks. The result will be known at the beginning of December. Union leaders
have also declared that even if the members reject the proposals they would
be very hesitant to call for new strikes.



The left union activists of the 'Maat is Vol' (Enough is enough) committee
oppose the deal and are calling on the workers to participate in the union
meetings and to vote No in the ballot. They are also calling for left trade
unionists to come together and to strengthen the organised left in the
union.



The Socialist Party (SP), a left social democratic party (formerly Maoist),
accepted the deal but warned against the continuation of the "neo-liberal
agenda" of the cabinet. The social accord "is a victory on a few fronts. But
the cabinet is still there. Its agenda has not changed and has not been
blocked. The unions have won much but they lost the first prize, and that is
the fall of the cabinet. This means that it can continue with its
anti-social agenda." (November 6, 2004). Some of its leading members who are
also active in the unions have declared they will vote against the deal. The
party as such does not reject the deal and does not call upon the union
members to oppose it during the ballot.



The PVDA "is delighted about the fact that the cabinet and the social
partners have reached a social agreement. It seems now that there will be an
end to a period of great actions, strikes and protest. The PVDA has always
called on all the parties to rapidly come to an accord in the interest of
the country and we are happy that this has happened" (from a press release
on www.pvda.nl ).



The chairman of the second biggest Christian trade union CNV, Doekle
Terpstra, who adamantly defends the deal, admitted that the members were
very critical of the agreement. He declared in the union media that "those
who think that the membership meetings are an easy ride are mistaken. The
members are very critical. The leaders of the union movement may have signed
a peace deal but the struggle over the policies of the government continues"
(November 16, 2004 on www.cnv.nl ). He adds that the members do not trust
the cabinet and are afraid of the consequences of this agreement. However,
they tend to trust the union.



The genie is out of the bottle



Whatever the result of the ballot, the genie is out of the bottle. Workers
who have been described as conservative, egocentric, as well as incapable of
solidarity and strike action have been forced out of their lethargy and have
had a taste of their own strength. This will have consequences for the
future, especially in the branch and factory negotiations in the coming
months. The weak deal, which has been presented by the trade union
leadership as the best available, will be understood not as the result of
low mobilisations or lack of solidarity but as a result of a weak
leadership.



The union leaders probably think that they are back in the cosy world of the
polder model. They are wrong. Yes, they will be able to sit and wine and
dine with the ministers and the bosses again. They will not even have to pay
the bill for the restaurant! But another bill will be presented to them:
they will be asked to "convince" their members of new cuts etc., in the name
of the economy's and the country's interest. It is not guaranteed at all
that the workers will swallow this as they have done in the past. This means
that a period of questioning has opened up among the workers on what sort of
union they want and what kind of society they need in order to live better.
Reformism, which has dominated the unions and the left parties, will enter
into crisis. Reformism in the period of capitalist crisis means the opposite
of what the term pretends to be: it opens a period of counter-reforms and
not new social reforms! As there is no solution for the workers under
capitalism the best intentions turn into their opposite.



Then came another earthquake



On the last night of the secret negotiations between the unions and the
government, a new political assassination was carried out. The filmmaker
Theo van Gogh was shot and stabbed to death by a young Dutch man of Moroccan
origin. A paper reports the reaction of the negotiators in the kitchen of
Minister Zalm: "Everybody stared at each other and realised that social
turmoil in the country must rapidly be brought to an end." ( Trouw ,
November 11, 2004).



It was worse than a political murder, it was a terrorist attack perpetrated
by a network of reactionary Muslims based in the Netherlands. The young
terrorist left a letter held to the back of Theo van Gogh with a knife,
claming his murder in the name of Allah and announcing that other public
figures would also be killed. The commotion was at its high point. Many
people said they no longer recognise their country, that it was not like it
used to be "before". There have been many "befores" and "afters" in the last
two years. "The Netherlands are not the Netherlands anymore," a banner
claimed. It goes without saying that we condemn this cowardly murder.
Furthermore, it is pointless and can actually be used in a reactionary
manner against all "immigrants".



But who was Theo van Gogh and why was he a target for reactionary Muslims?
Van Gogh was an eccentric and controversial filmmaker. He made a corrosive
short film - together with the Liberal MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali who fled Kenya to
escape a forced wedding - titled Submission , which dealt with domestic
violence against women in Muslim families. Van Gogh was not the type of
person the media have presented him as. He was not a "soldier of free
speech". As a fan of Pim Fortuyn, he was known for his brutal intolerance
when faced with criticism and did not hesitate to resort to vulgar insults
against Muslims as well as Jews. He wrote such disgusting comments as: "I
can smell caramel; today they must be burning Jews with diabetes." He
despised Muslims whom he did not hesitate to describe as "the fifth column
of goatfuckers". And the lazy "intellectual elite" adored his attacks
against minorities. The fact that these so-called intellecetuals have fallen
to these levels is a symptom of decadence at the top of society.



Religious and racial tensions



The struggle against the influence of reactionary religious prejudices among
some layers of the Arab immigrants, such as the oppression of women cannot
be combated in this way. Above all it certainly cannot be left to people
like Van Gogh or to the government. It can only be done by a joint struggle
of male and female workers as part of the struggle for social emancipation,
that is a struggle for socialism. The method of Van Gogh is that of opposing
one "civilisation" against the other, completely in Samuel Huttington's
style. In doing this he and his apologists conveniently forget that in
"Western Christian civilisation" the most dangerous place for women (apart
from the workplace) is the family , where more women are raped, injured,
terrorised and murdered than in the street!



We condemn this murder, of course. Like all acts of individual terrorism it
plays into the hands of reaction. In this case it has provoked a racist
backlash and it has given the state the necessary consent from the
population to strengthen repressive laws, social control and its attacks
against democratic rights. In a tit-for-tat reaction, more than twenty
mosques, churches and religious schools have been attacked and some of them
have beeb destroyed in fires. This is the work of a very small minority of
young people, often from extreme right-wing groups. In different cities
Christian and Muslim workers have formed all-night vigils to protect the
mosques from being attacked, as was the case in Lelystad. Young immigrants
have been attacked on the streets and the whole of the Muslim community has
been stigmatised as harbouring potential Osama bin Ladens.



Some ministers of the government have even shouted about a "war situation"
in the Netherlands. A climate of anti-Muslim hysteria is being cultivated.
It is clear that the right wing wants the memory of the joint struggle of
Dutch and immigrant workers and families against them to be erased. This
experience is the only real antidote against racism and religious tension in
the country, not the moralistic appeals "against all extremes" or "for
tolerance".



Mass psychology in times of crisis



The reaction of the population in the Netherlands to this murder also
teaches us something about the psyche of the masses. In the last two and
half years we have witnessed wild shifts in moods. This has been expressed
at the polls, in strikes, and on demonstrations, etc. There have been shifts
from the left to the right and then back again. Left wing and right wing
ideas coexist in the same heads at the same moment. During a referendum in
2002 in Rotterdam on the privatisation of public transport the strongest
'No' vote came from areas where Pim Fortuyn received a lot of support.
Accidental figures like Pim Fortuyn can indeed function as catalysts. Two
political assassinations in two years indicate that this society has entered
a new period of storm and stress as never before.



Confusion, anger, stupefaction and doubts are very common feelings today. We
need a dialectical and a materialist approach to these changes in
consciousness. Some left-wing people are seduced into believing that all
these swings in moods show how irrationally people think. However, that
would be showing a complete ignorance of how consciousness changes. Events
are what determine the thoughts of people. The wild mood swings demonstrate
that even the "peaceful Netherlands" have entered one of the most convulsive
periods in history.



The mass of the population have been tormented as never before during the
last period, with fear of Islamic terrorism, the war in Afghanistan and
Iraq. Added to this is the more imminent fear of social insecurity, job
losses, disappearing incomes, etc. Old certainties are crumbling; points of
reference that seemed solid are becoming more fluid; people feel lost. This
makes people vulnerable to rapid shifts in mood. The dominant ideology in
the Netherlands, the ideology of compromise and having a sense of
proportion, is breaking down. This will be an important factor in the
political devlopments of the years to come. People, not only workers, but
young people and also the middle classes, are realising that things are much
tougher here in the Netherlands than what they thought.



Class society rears its ugly head again in the Netherlands



A similar dynamic affects Muslim youth to one degree or another. Immigrant
workers are still the most oppressed layer of society. They face racism,
joblessness, victimisation, etc. Add to this a profound feeling of
humiliation as a result of developments in the Middle East and one can begin
to understand the alienation and radicalisation of some layers of immigrant
youth.



It is only a very small layer among them that is willing to accept
fundamentalist rhetoric and an even smaller layer that is ready to engage in
terrorist attacks. The racist backlash is strengthening this layer.



United struggle is the only way forward



This new situation has temporarily and partially cut across the class
struggle, but only for a while. The Dutch workers have great traditions of
militant struggle and of internationalist actions, such as the struggle
against the imperialist domination of Indonesia. The bourgeois also have
some traditions and stubborn habits which most of the Dutch people have
forgotten about. But now they will start to remember. They have already
realized that the Dutch bosses are the same as in any other country.



When Pim Fortuyn was killed, the serving Prime Minister Kok commented that
in the Netherlands "we have a tradition of sorting out our differences with
words and not with bullets". Ask the peasants of Bali, Aceh, Java and the
Molucca what they think about the "traditions" of the Dutch bourgeois. You
just need to (re)read Max Havelaar to know what the colonial masses went
through under Dutch domination.



Those methods of repression and brutal social relations were also practised
against native Dutch workers. Remember that in the 1980s the struggle for
decent housing was repressed by the police. The forces of law and order
intervened during the dockers' strike in the 1970s and even in more recent
struggles.



Dutch workers and young people, immigrant or native, are realising that the
"humane and tolerant Netherlands" they imagined is not so humane anymore. It
is ridden with all kinds of tensions and divisions, exploited by a rapacious
bourgeois class, justified by a decadent intellectual elite, and without an
alternative coming from the left parties like the PVDA and the SP. Genuinely
"humane" solutions can only come from the working class in the struggle for
socialism. In fact, the program of socialism is the only realistic solution.
What is utopian is not the idea that the struggle for socialism is possible
in the Netherlands. What is utopian is the idea that we can return to the
old polder model. That is dead and buried. Instead of looking backwards, we
must look forward.



Over the last ten years many left leaders have abandoned the ideas of
socialism, they have thrown away their copies of Marx and embraced
capitalism as the only "realistic" system. This was compunded by many years
of so-called social peace. The chain of events of the last two and a half
years demonstrate how fragile that social peace was. The real situation has
now become apparent and this will undoubtedly help young people, students
and workers to seek an alternative to this rotten system. In doing this they
will rediscover the beauty and humanity of genuine socialist ideas.



November 23, 2004



See also:

The Netherlands: Reawakening of the Dutch working class by Erik Demeester.
(October 4, 2004)

The Netherlands: Set on a stormy course by Erik Demeester (May 22, 2002)

After the French and Dutch Elections - Is there a threat of Fascism in
Europe? by Alan Woods. (May 20, 2002)



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10) Alert! Fed Massive Raid and Arrest Chinese Restaurant

Workers Across U.S.!

National Immigrant Solidarity Network Urgent Updates

November 23, 2004

URL: http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org






Last week on Texas and New York state, Federal agency raided several Chinese
restaurants, detained and arrested over 100 restaurant workers and owners,
charging them "conspiracy to harbor illegal aliens," "illegally employing
unauthorized aliens," and "conspiracy to commit money laundering." U.S.
Attorney said they will deport the undocumented workers back to China along
with the restaurant owners for hiring them.



It created a huge community outrage across the Chinese American community,
and the Chinese consulate in Texas had voiced protests about Fed's roundup
of restaurant workers. Almost on the same time, in the separate case, a
Chinese restaurant owner in North Dakota had sentenced for trafficking and
hiring undocumented workers and will go to four months prison and will face
deportation.

As Yang Chenqi, an attorney with the Chinese consulate in Houston, said
"Immigration officials said they were victims of slave labor," Yang said,
"but from the interviews (with restaurant workers) they are victims of the
U.S. government." Because I never saw any white European sweatshop owners
(Like: Wal-Mart) had been arrested & jailed for hiring undocumented
immigrants, and faced deported .



This not a justice but a racism! The story had absolutely missing from the
major corporate media, sadly it was not event covered on left progressive
media--where's the American labor, student, human rights activists?



Lee Siu Hin

National Immigrant Solidarity Network





**Complete News Coverage**

Chinese consulate protests roundup of restaurant workers

By CHRIS ROBERTS - Associated Press

http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=Issues&
report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=0110
&report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=0110>

EL PASO, Texas - A Chinese consulate official said Tuesday that the office
is looking into the treatment of about 50 Chinese nationals who were
questioned by immigration officials last week in what appears to be a human
trafficking case.





Grand Forks restaurant owner sentenced for trafficking

By Stephen J. Lee - Grand Forks Herald (Grand Forks, N.D.)

http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=Issues&
report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=0109
&report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=0109>

FARGO - A Grand Forks restaurant owner was sentenced Friday in federal court
here to four months in prison on charges of human trafficking, according to
assistant U.S. Attorney Nick Chase.





Feds raid Chinese eateries

By Robert Cristo - Tory Record (Troy, N.Y.)

http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=Issues&
report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=0108
&report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=0108>

Federal authorities swooped in on a popular Colonie Chinese restaurant/motel
and other local eateries and apartments in Albany and Rensselaer counties
Monday and apprehended dozens of suspects on various immigration, money
laundering and conspiracy charges.





9 charged in restaurant raids

By BRUCE A. SCRUTON - Times Union (Albany, N.Y.)

http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=Issues&
report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=0107
&report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=0107>
&report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=0106>

ALBANY -- Five people were charged Thursday with using illegal immigrants in
their chain of upstate Chinese buffet restaurants and putting nearly $2
million in a variety of bank accounts trying to hide the profits. Four
others were charged with driving the workers to and from the restaurants.





Local Chinese buffet under federal investigation

By Jonathan Ment - Daily Freeman (Kingston, N.Y.)

http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=Issues&
report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=0106
&report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=0106>

TOWN OF ULSTER - A local Chinese restaurant, Dragon Cheng Buffet,
also-known-as Dragon Buffet, is under investigation by federal authorities,
along with several other upstate Chinese buffet restaurants.





Five restaurant owners charged in immigration sting

By The Associated Press

http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=Issues&
report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=0105
&report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=0105>

ALBANY, N.Y. -- Five owners of Chinese buffet restaurants in upstate New
York were charged Thursday with hiring illegal aliens from China and Mexico
and with setting up fake bank accounts to launder the business' illegal
proceeds, police said.





For the complete immigrant news updates, please visit:

http://immigrantsolidarity.org/news.shtml








National Immigrant Solidarity Network

No Immigrant Bashing! Support Immigrant Rights!

webpage: http://www.ImmigrantSolidarity.org


New York: (212)330-8172

Los Angeles: (213)403-0131





Please consider making a donation to the important work of National
Immigrant Solidarity Network

Send check pay to:

ActionLA/SEE

1013 Mission St. #6

South Pasadena CA 91030

(All donations are tax deductible)



*to join the immigrant Solidarity Network daily news litserv, send e-mail
to: isn-subscribe@lists.riseup.net



*a monthly ISN monthly Action Alert! listserv, go to webpage
http://www.actionla.org/cgi-bin/mojo/mojo.cgi?f=list&l=isn



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11) MILLION CON MARCH!



This is a great idea and I hope it's one whose time and come. Every one of

the demands are supportable and show serious thought about the conditions of

defendants ("guilty" or "innocent"), prisoners, and "ex-felons." And this is

one Million ----- March where a turnout of five or ten thousand would be a

clear cut and big victory and mark an unmistakable advance for the working

class in the US and worldwide! On to the Million -- or whatever -- Con

March! Fred Feldman





Million Con March





Michael D. Harris, #172430, president of Local Chapter 1020 of the National

Lifers of America in the Thumb Correctional Facility in Lapeer, has a

specific program of demands to address the U.S. prison crisis, an element

missing from the Nov. 16 conference on prisons at the Detroit Opera House.

He is calling for a "Million Con March" to be held in Washington, D.C. June

25, 2005 to support these demands:



- Pardons for falsely-convicted persons in every state.



- Pardons and sentence commutations for non-parolable lifers who have

rehabilitated themselves, after serving a maximum of 25 years.



- Paroles for parolable lifers who have rehabilitated themselves after 15

years.



- Pardons and commutations for battered women serving time for killing their

abusers.



- Medical commutations and paroles for chronically and terminally ill

prisoners.



- Legislation permitting persons over 60 who have served one-third of their

sentence to apply for early release.



- Exempt juveniles from life sentencing.



- Federal criminal sanctions against law enforcement officials who use false

evidence, police perjury and corruption to obtain convictions.



- Federal public hearings on falsification of forensic reports and lab

evidence.



- Reinstatement of funding for Corrections Ombudsmen in every state.



- State reductions in spending for any county failing to racially diversify

their jury polls to reflect the population and the defendant's ethnicity.



- End to mandatory minimum sentencing.



- End to "three strikes" laws.



- End to the Patriot Act.



- Voting Rights for all ex-felons across the country.



- Educational and vocational trade programs for current prisoners.



He is asking those who would like to help organize such a march to contact:



Juanita Dixon 101 Mitchell St. Jackson, MI 48203 Phone 517-787-5197



Betty Harris,c/o Doris Gates 2221 Baker St. Muskegon, Mi.



Deshon Harris, 3501 E. 42nd Ave. #307, Anchorage, Alaska



Kevin Carey, c/o 313-831-0750



http://www.michigancitizen.com/default.asp?sourceid=&smenu=1&twindow=&ma

d=&s



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