Event: National Conference to Reclaim Our Cities (NCRC)
Friday, November 11 thru Sunday, November 13
Wayne State University Student Center Ballroom
Contact: NCRC Planning Committee
Tel. (313) 680-5508
URL: http://www.reclaimourcities.org
E-mail: national_conference_of_cities@earthlink.net

National Conference to Reclaim Our Cities Will be Held in Detroit November 11-13

People from the throughout the state of Michigan and delegations from New Orleans, Cleveland, Baltimore, New York and other cities will converge on the Wayne State University campus to develop strategies for the rebuilding of urban areas around the country. Under the theme: "Money to Rebuild New Orleans and all U.S. Cities, Not for War," this national meeting of grassroots, labor and peace activists will call for the feeding of the cities and the starving of the Pentagon.

Demanding funds for jobs, housing, Social Security, schools, healthcare and the environment, the conference will focus on the Bush administration's budget which slashed 150 domestic programs while it pushes the spending for war to over half a trillion dollars a year. Organizers of the event say that it is time to launch a struggle to win the right to healthcare, quality education, decent housing, food, utilities, and jobs at living wages.

A partial list of endorsers for this event includes: Maryann Mahaffey, President of the Detroit City Council, JoAnn Watson, member of the Detroit City Council, Donald Boggs, President of the Metro-Detroit AFL-CIO, Nathan Head, President of the Metro-Detroit Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, Ed Rowe, Pastor of Central United Methodist Church, Marian Kramer, Co-President of the National Welfare Rights Organization, David Sole, President of UAW Local 2334, the Gray Panthers of Metro-Detroit, Abayomi Azikiwe, Editor of the Pan-African News Wire and many others.

All day Saturday, November 12, there will be plenary sessions and workshops to discuss solutions to the urban crises across the United States and the role of the increasing militarization of both domestic and foreign policy of the national government.

This conference is open to the general public and is sponsored by the WSU student chapter of the Michigan Emergency Committee Against War & Injustice (MECAWI).

Rosa Parks, Civil Rights Heroine, is Dead At 92

BY CASSANDRA SPRATTLING
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
Monday, October 24, 2005

When Rosa Parks refused to get up, an entire race of people began to stand up for their rights as human beings. It was a simple act that took extraordinary courage in Montgomery, Ala., in 1955. It was a place where black people had no rights white people had to respect. It was a time when racial discrimination was so common, many blacks never questioned it. At least not out loud.

But then came Rosa Parks. This mild-mannered black woman refused to give up her seat on a city bus so a white man could sit down.

Jim Crow laws had met their match. Parks' refusal infused 50,000 blacks in Montgomery with the will to walk rather than risk daily humiliation on the city's buses. This gentle giant, whose quietness belied her toughness, became the catalyst for a movement that broke the back of legalized segregation in the United States, gave rise to the astounding leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and inspired fighters for freedom and justice throughout the world. Parks, the beloved mother of the civil rights movement, is dead, a family member confirmed late Monday.

But already it's evident that her spirit lives in hundreds of thousands of people inspired by her unwavering commitment to work for a better world - a commitment that continued even after age and failing health slowed her in the 1990s. In death as in life, she touched the well known and the little known people of the world. 'Freedom is for all human beings' Parks' health had been declining since the late 1990s. She had stopped giving interviews by then and rarely appeared in public. When she did, she only smiled or spoke short, barely audible responses.

In one of her last lengthy interviews with the Detroit Free Press in 1995, she spoke of what she would like people to say about her after she passed away. "I'd like people to say I'm a person who always wanted to be free and wanted it not only for myself; freedom is for all human beings," she said during an interview from the pastor's study of St. Matthew African Methodist Episcopal Church, a small congregation she joined upon moving to Detroit in 1957.

While it's known worldwide that her refusal to give up her bus seat sparked the Montgomery bus boycott, it's less well known that Parks had a long history of trying to make life better for black people. It was a desire embedded in her from childhood by her grandfather - her mother's father with whom she lived when she was growing up. He taught his children and grandchildren not to put up with mistreatment. "It was passed down almost in our genes," Parks wrote in her 1992 autobiography, "My Story." (Puffin, $5.99)

She recalled that when her grandfather was home, he kept a shotgun by his side in case the Ku Klux Klan dropped by. Of her grandfather, Sylvester Edwards, she wrote: "I remember that sometimes he would call white men by their first names, or their whole names, and not say, 'Mister.' How he survived doing all those kinds of things, and being so outspoken, talking that big talk, I don't know, unless it was because he was so white and so close to being one of them."

Her grandfather's father was a white plantation owner; his mother a slave housekeeper and seamstress. In recent years, Parks has relied heavily on a wheelchair and, according to court documents, suffers from dementia. The dementia was revealed as a result of two lawsuits filed on her behalf against the record company for the hip hop duo Outkast.

The 1999 lawsuit claims the record label BMG Entertainment violated her publicity and trademark rights for the 1998 song "Rosa Parks,' by using her name without her permission for commercial purposes. But some of her family members claim Parks was incapable of filing such a suit of her own accord.

They say it was an attempt by one of her attorneys, Gregory Reed and her longtime friend, Elaine Steele, to get money. Meanwhile, in October of this year a federal judge appointed former Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer as her guardian ad litem-a temporary, court-appointed attorney to assure her interests in the lawsuits are fairly represented. Steele has had durable power of attorney over Parks and serves as her patient advocate, meaning she will make medical decisions upon incapacitating illness since 1998, according to documents obtained by the Free Press.

Filmmaker Kevin Pina Screens New Documentary in Detroit on Haitian Crisis

Documentary highlights brutal occupation by United Nations forces

By Abayomi Azikiwe, Editor
Pan-African News Wire

DETROIT, 13 October, 2005 (PANW)--Renowned filmmaker Kevin Pina visited the city of Detroit on Thursday at the invitiation of the Michigan Emergency Committee Against War & Injustice (MECAWI) in order to present his new documentary entitled "Haiti: The Untold Story". This documentary, which was filmed between January and July of 2005, provides a shocking account of the draconian conditions under which the people in Haiti live while being occupied by the United Nations military forces.

Since February 29, 2004, when President Jean Bertrand-Aristide was overthrown, kidnapped and forced into exile by the United States military along with the assistance of France and Canada, the people of Haiti have demanded the return of their democratically elected head of state. Aristide, who has since been granted political asylum in South Africa by President Thabo Mbeki, has been denied the opportunity to return to his country while his Fanmi Lavalas political party has suffered mass arrest and murder of its top leadership still remaining inside the country.

"Haiti: The Untold Story" is a 53 minute film which chronicles a series of mass demonstrations in support of the ousted President Aristide and the United Nations military response to these manifestations. Pina is a broadcast journalist for the Flashpoints radio program that is hosted by Dennis Bernstein at KPFA radio station, a Pacifica affiliate in the Bay area of California. He is also the associate editor of the Black Commentator website.

According to Pina, "the US, France and Canada worked to destabilize the democractically-elected government of Jean Bertrand-Aristide. They funded through organization like the United States Agency for International Development (AID), the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), so called NGOs or Non-Governmental Organizations, which worked to build an opposition to that democratically-elected government, to overthrow it. It's also what they worked for to get all those photos of the opposition in the mainstream press. What you never saw in the mainstream press were the photos of and images of the much larger demonstrations that were going on at the same time demanding that Aristide be allowed to fulfill his five year term in office."

Pina said that "while they were presenting you with one side of the story, I'd be going to these major, major demonstrations and I'd be the only guy there with a camara. They just utterly, completely ignored it. The press was culpable. The US press, the Associated Press, Reuters, the Canadian Press, its amazing to see how much they parrot the US embassy, the Canadian embassy, the French embassy, but when comes to really showing the voice of the majority of the poor of that country who supported Aristide's government, who live in abject poverty, they remain silent and in my mind culpable."

"What I have witnessed is a systematic campaign to murder, to jail, to force into hiding, to force into exile, the majority political party, the party of Jean Bertrand-Aristide. The Haitian National Police working hand-in-hand first with US Marines, French Foreign Legion and Canadian Special Forces to kill people and stop them from demonstrating and demanding the return of democracy to their country. And then afterwards working under the veneer and cover of legitimacy provided by the United Nations."

Pina continued by saying that "some people have a hard time understanding what the UN is doing in Haiti.... They have worked hand-in-hand with this US-installed government to dismember the Lavalas movement. When I say dismember I mean kill and murder in the streets, shoot unarmed demonstrators. Going into poor neighborhoods...and summarily execute young men they believe were associated with the Lavalas Party. We then find that the United Nations is doing the killing itself in Haiti."

The filmmaker said that he "tried to be a judicious as I could in images of violence. At the end of it I finally decided that no one would ever know that these people existed, that they had lives, that they lived, if not for the fact that they are in this film and that you see them die. But this was the only way I could contribute to their lives and to acknowledge their existence unfortunately was by showing their deaths."

Pina mentioned key personalities in the oppressive apparatus in Haiti. Andy Apaid, who is one of the leaders of the opposition to Aristide and is often refered to as civil society member. He is a large scale business owner who is wealthy as a result of the massive exploitation of Haitian labor. According to Pina, Apaid has been linked to funding gangs in Cite Soliel to kill Lavalas members. Reginald Pulos, who is president of the Chamber of Commerce in Haiti was also mentioned. In addition, Charles Henry Baker, who is also a member of the Group 184, is a major player in the current US-backed regime. He is now a candidate for the president of Haiti.

Pina then made reference to people who have been persecuted by the current regime. Father Gerard Jean-Juste, a Catholic priest, who has fought tirelessly for the rights of the poor. He has a feeding program that provides food for hundreds of children every week. Father Jean-Juste is an ally of President Aristide and an outspoken critic of the current US-installed government of Gerard Latorture. Father Jean-Juste is currently a political prisoner in Haiti. He has been deemed a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International.

Lack of recognition of US-installed regime

What was striking about the analysis of the coup against Aristide was that the entire Caribbean Community (CARICOM), which is the 15 nation organization within the region, has refused to recognize the US-installed regime. Also the governments of Cuba and Venezuela have spoken out against the current situation in Haiti and the role of the United States.

In addition, the African Union, the 53-nation community on the continent has also withheld recognition to the Latorture regime. President Thabo Mbeki, who had supported Aristide prior to the coup, has led the campaign in Africa to facilitate his return to Haiti.

President Mbeki was the only head-of-state of a major nation to attend the Haitian 200 year anniversary celebration in January of 2004. Aristide was kidnapped on February 29, 2004 and taken to the Central African Republic. Soon afterwards Congresswoman Maxine Waters of California and Sara Flounders of the International Action Center flew to Bangui, the capital of the CAR, and demanded that he be released. President Bozize of the CAR then released the ousted president and Congresswoman Waters and Ms. Flounders facilitated his re-location to the Republic of South Africa.

Pina estimated that between 7,000-10,000 people have been killed since the February 29, 2004 coup against President Jean Bertrand-Aristide. "No one can challenge me on that figure because no human rights organization has devoted the resources and had the courage to challenge the Haitian government or the United Nations to set up a program where they can take the testimony of the victims and the testimony of the family members who have disappeared. There is no accounting for them. They should open up the offices for birth certificates and find out what happened to the victims of the violence."

"When we talk about political prisoners," Pina continues, " they say there are about 1,000 political detainees, but they are only talking about the capital. I say there are thousands because they do not include the countryside. How difficult would it be for Amnesty to at least take all nine departments and the largest two cities in all nine departments, eighteen cities, and go into all the jails and interview people and see how many people are being persecuted and held in jail for no other reason than their political affiliation. Therefore if you get a fundraising appeal from Amnesty or Human Rights Watch, its garbage, throw it away. Or you can write on it: what about Haiti? And then send it back to them."

"Amnesty has not had a permanent team on the ground in Haiti since the coup," according to Pina. "To me that is unconscionable given the evidence of human rights abuses that have occured."

Haiti Information Project

Kevin Pina is a representative of the Haiti Information Project, which is a grassroots organization based in San Francisco since 1991. The organization is designed to provide independent sources of information on the unfolding situation inside the country. The Haiti Information Project is the producer of the film "Haiti: The Untold Story", which was directed by Kevin Pina.

Pina lives in Haiti and was recently arrested by the government while filming the ransacking of the home of Father Gerard Jean-Juste. He remained in detention for three days and was released after an overwhelming campaign directed against the Latorture regime from supporters of Haitian democracy throughout the world.

He is currently on tour throughout the United States and Canada. His tour took him to Halifax, Windsor and Toronto, Canada. He is planning to go on tour in Europe after leaving North America.

For more information on the Haiti Information Project and the documentary, "Haiti: The Untold Story" just log on to the websites below.

To view the trailor of the documentary just click on:
http://www.teledyol.net/HIP/about.html

For general information on Haiti Information Project click on:
http://www.haitiaction.net/

For information on the Michigan Emergency Committee Against War & Injustice click on:
http://www.mecawi.org

Iraqi poll irregularities under scrutiny

Tuesday 18 October 2005 10:05 AM GMT

Unusually high vote totals in some areas have rasied concerns Iraq's election commission has started checking ballot boxes for possible irregularities, while flights bringing ballot boxes to Baghdad for the count have resumed after sandstorms subsided.

The ballot boxes were being taken to Baghdad on Tuesday to be checked by election officials investigating "unusually high" vote totals in areas said to be predominantly Shia and Kurdish provinces, where as many as 99% of the voters reportedly approved Iraq's draft constitution. The investigation by Iraq's election commission, which was announced on Monday, has raised the possibility that the results of the referendum could be called into question.

"The sandstorm ended Monday night, ballots boxes are now arriving here again from the provinces, and our employees have resumed their counting," said Adil al-Lami, head of the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq.

"If we suspect that the numbers are higher or lower than we expected, we have to double-check them, and this audit means it might be several more days before we announce the final outcome," he said. "We are not concerned whether the outcome is 'yes' or 'no'. We are only interested in making the process technically a success." He said the commission was a neutral body acting as a referee.

Questions about irregularities

The investigation by the commission has raised questions about irregularities in the balloting. Word of the review came on Monday as Sunni Arab leaders repeated accusations of fraud after initial reports from the provinces suggested the constitution had passed.

Among the allegations are that police took ballot boxes from heavily "no" districts and that some "yes" areas had more votes than registered voters. The electoral commission made no mention of fraud, and an official with knowledge of the election process cautioned that it was too early to say whether the unusual numbers were incorrect or would affect the outcome.

But questions about the numbers raised tensions over Saturday's referendum, which has sharply divided Iraqis. Most of the Shia and the Kurds - the coalition that controls the government - support the charter, while most Sunni Arabs sharply opposed a document they fear will tear Iraq to pieces.

Irregularities in Shia and Kurdish areas, expected to vote strongly "yes", may not affect the outcome.

Doubts

The main electoral battlegrounds were provinces with mixed populations, two of which went strongly "yes". There were conflicting reports whether those two provinces were among those with questionable figures. At Baghdad's counting centre, election workers were cutting open plastic bags of tally sheets sent by plane and helicopter from provincial stations.

Nearby, more workers, dressed in white T-shirts and caps bearing the election commission's slogan, are sitting behind computer screens punching in the numbers. Election officials in many provinces have released their initial counts, indicating that the charter has been approved.

But the commission found that the number of yes votes in most provinces appeared unusually high and would be audited, with random samples taken from ballot boxes to test them. The high numbers were seen among the nine provinces of the south and the three in the north, al-Lami said.

Up to 98% say yes

Those provinces reported to AP yes votes above 90%, with some as high as 97% and 98%. Two provinces that are crucial to the results - Ninevah and Diyala, which have mixed Sunni, Shia and Kurd populations - were not among those that appeared unusual.

But the official with knowledge of the counting process said the unexpected results were not isolated to the Shia and Kurdish provinces and were "all around the country".

Sunni opponents needed to win over either Diyala or Ninevah to veto the constitution. Sectarian balance unknown Sunnis had to get a two-thirds no vote in any three of Iraq's 18 provinces to defeat the charter, and they appeared to have got it in western Anbar and central Salah al-Din, both Sunni. Ninevah and Diyala are each believed to have a slight Sunni Arab majority.

But results reported by provincial electoral officials indicated startlingly powerful yes votes of up to 70% in each. Allegations of fraud in those areas could throw the final outcome into question. But questions of whether the reported strong yes vote there is unusual are complicated by the fact Iraq has not had a proper census in 15 years, meaning the sectarian balance is not firmly known.

AP
You can find this article at:

Election officials also queried US assertions - later retracted - that the draft constitution was likely to be approved. During her visit to London last week, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said initial information from the field indicated the constitution would be backed. Hussein Hindawi, an official at the commission, said he was "surprised" by the statement. "As far as I know, she does not work at the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq (IECI)," Mr Hindawi added. Karina Parelli, head of the United Nations Election Assistance Team in Iraq, also questioned Ms Rice's comments.

"Unless Rice is more well-informed than the IECI, thus far there is no way to know the turnout percentages or the results of the voting," she said. Storm The IECI said votes in several governorates required "re- examination, comparison and verification because they are relatively high compared with international averages for elections".

The commission said in some areas nearly all votes indicated a "yes", and in others a "no", and that in such circumstances the ballots would have to be audited, in line with international practice. The count was also disrupted by a sandstorm that blew up in central Iraq, preventing ballots from being flown to Baghdad for counting and slowing their progress on the roads.

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CONSTITUTION'S KEY POINTS

Iraq to be federal, parliamentary democracy

Official languages to be Arabic and Kurdish

Official religion to be Islam but religious freedoms guaranteed

Equal rights for all Independent judiciary

Elections every four years

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The result was originally expected later this week, but the electoral commission warned it might now be put back several days. On Sunday, unofficial results leaked out suggesting that the referendum would be endorsed. There were indications that Shia and Kurdish areas had voted heavily for the constitution, while opponents may have got the upper hand in only two of Iraq's provinces, not the three they need to veto the charter.

The Associated Press cited an anonymous official saying that heavily Sunni Anbar and central Salahuddin provinces had rejected the treaty by the required two-thirds. But Ninevah and Diyala provinces, which are thought to have slight Sunni majorities, appeared to have voted in favour. Saleh al-Mutlaq, a prominent Sunni Arab politician, alleged vote-rigging in Diyala, saying soldiers had removed ballot boxes and that there had been more votes cast than registered electors.

'Peaceful process'

There was international approval that the vote went ahead relatively peacefully, and that turnout was high, even in Sunni areas where some groups urged a boycott. US President George W Bush called the high participation "a positive development", and said it showed that "people are willing to try to work out their political differences through a process, a peaceful process".

One place where few people appeared to have voted was Ramadi, west of Baghdad, where militant activity has been high. On the day of the vote, five US soldiers were killed in a roadside bombing in a village near the city. US helicopters and warplanes bombed the same area on Sunday, killing about 70 militants, the US military said, although eye-witnesses said many of the dead were civilians.

Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/4351680.stm Published: 2005/10/18 12:56:54 GMT October 19, 2005

Iraqis Begin Audit of Heavy 'Yes' Vote; May Take 3 Days

By EDWARD WONG

New York Times

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Oct. 18 - With the lifting of a sandstorm, electoral tally sheets from the provinces began arriving here Tuesday by helicopter and airplane as Iraqi officials pushed forward with an audit of the nationwide vote on a new constitution. The electoral officials, on the advice of United Nations observers, said Monday that they were looking into unusually one-sided tallies in 12 of Iraq's 18 provinces, where early returns from the voting on Saturday showed more than 90 percent approval. The provinces in question are dominated by Shiite Arabs or Kurds, who are generally determined to enshrine the document over the opposition of many Sunni Arabs.

Election officials did not release any updated figures on Tuesday, and they insisted that the investigation was standard international practice when tallies for one side or another appeared irregular. There has been no indication that vote fraud was committed, they said. Voter turnout was relatively high, above 60 percent, and the constitution is expected to pass, despite impassioned votes of no in many Sunni Arab areas. "By tomorrow all the tally sheets will have arrived in Baghdad," said Adel al-Lami, director of the electoral commission. "We will try to finish our work three days after receiving all the boxes of tally sheets."

Passage of the constitution is essential for the American- backed political process that the Bush administration is relying on to co-opt the increasingly sophisticated Sunni-led insurgency. If the voters approve it, elections for a full- term government are to be held in mid-December. Some Sunni Arab politicians are accusing the main Shiite and Kurdish parties of ballot-box stuffing, but representatives of those parties vehemently deny that. Mr. Lami said the commission was also scrutinizing complaints about voter rolls.

The vote count occurs in two stages. A preliminary count was done by local electoral officials after the polls closed Saturday evening. They marked up tally sheets that are now being sent to Baghdad. Then a review of the sheets will take place inside the fortified Green Zone in central Baghdad. Transport of the ballots to Baghdad was delayed Monday by a sandstorm that dropped a curtain of dust and grit over much of central Iraq. Helicopters and planes were grounded, and the Baghdad airport shut down. Reports of violence across central and western Iraq emerged early Tuesday.

The American military said two marines and four insurgents were killed Monday in a firefight near the town of Rutba in Anbar Province, the heartland of the insurgency. A soldier was killed early Tuesday in Mosul by small-arms fire. In all, nearly 2,000 Americans have been killed in the war.

A military spokesman said a convoy of Bradley fighting vehicles was ambushed Monday in Salahuddin Province. A roadside bomb exploded and ignited one of the vehicles, wounding eight soldiers and killing an Iraqi interpreter, said the spokesman, Maj. Steven Warren. The soldiers' platoon sergeant, who was aflame, leapt down from the turret and opened the rear hatch to save his men, but suffered third- degree burns on 65 percent of his body. The deputy governor of Anbar, Talib al-Dulaimi, was fatally shot Tuesday by insurgents outside the provincial government center in Ramadi. Though the area around the center is heavily patrolled by the Marines, guerrillas operate with impunity throughout Ramadi.

Violence resulted in abysmal voter turnout there on Saturday. "The insurgents are against progress and only desire a return to the ways of the seventh century," the Marines said in a statement. In Baghdad, armed men fatally shot a senior Industry Ministry official, Ayed Abdul-Ghani Yousif. Hours later a mortar shell landed on a downtown Baghdad house, killing a civilian. Also, gunmen killed a police officer, Lt. Maj. Sami Kredi Attaya, an Interior Ministry official said. Gunmen killed an Iraqi Army soldier and a civilian in the oil city of Kirkuk, a police official said.

In nearby Hawija, a roadside bomb exploded near an American patrol, killing an Iraqi civilian. In Balad, a mostly Shiite town in the Sunni triangle northwest of Baghdad, police officials said they had found the bodies of six poultry factory workers who had belonged to the Mahdi Army, the militia of the radical Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr, Reuters reported. The men, whose bodies were discovered at the bottom of a river, disappeared two weeks ago, relatives said.

On Monday evening, around the town of Hilla, armed men attacked Al Rahman Mosque and killed one worshiper as people prepared to break the daily fast observed during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The men may have been going after members of the Iraqi Islamic Party who were leading the prayers, a local police spokesman said. The party, a prominent Sunni Arab group, broke ranks with hard-line Sunni Arabs last week to endorse the constitution after last-minute compromises with Shiite and Kurdish politicians. The American military and Iraqi government readied security forces in central Baghdad on Tuesday for the trial of Saddam Hussein and several of his top aides, to take place on Wednesday. Mr. Hussein faces charges stemming from the executions of more than 140 men and teenage boys in the mostly Shiite town of Dujail.

An Internet posting in the name of Mr. Hussein's Baath Party appeared Tuesday on a Web site that often carries pro- insurgent messages. The posting condemned the trial as illegitimate and said Mr. Hussein would take the opportunity to judge the Americans and their allies. "The dear leader Saddam Hussein al-Majeed will stand on the 19th of this month with glory, truth and defiance, as a struggling leader and a jihadist resister and as a patriotic Iraqi and an Arab nationalist," the message said, using a formal version of Mr. Hussein's name. "He will stand as a representative of all dignified Iraqis and free Arabs, and of honest humanity. He will prosecute, expose and convict American imperialism and the vicious Zionist coalition."

Khalid al-Ansary contributed reporting from Baghdad for this article, Sabrina Tavernise from Ramadi and Kirk Semple from Baquba.

Iraqi Feminist Yanar Mohammed on the Iraq Constitution Vote

Monday, October 17th, 2005

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/10/17/1422236

In Iraq, early election results suggest that voters have approved a new US-backed constitution. Millions of ballots are still being counted two days after the referendum which was a simple "Yes" or "No" on whether to accept the document.

Yanar Mohammed, director of the Organization of Women/s Freedom in Iraq, a group that works to stop atrocities against Iraqi women and defend their rights. She also serves as the Editor in Chief of the newspaper Al-Mousawat which stands for "Equality."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TRANSCRIPT

AMY GOODMAN: This is Iraq's government spokesperson, Laith Kubba.

LAITH KUBBA: We know well that either way, if it's a yes or a no, it's going to be a tough outcome that we need to handle. We know that there is a level of polarization, and Iraq as one big family, we know if part of the family is not happy, you cannot live in the same house.

AMY GOODMAN: If the constitution passes, Iraqis will vote again in December for a new
four- year parliament. Should it fail, Iraq's politicians will have to go back to the drawing board. In Washington, President Bush congratulated Iraqis on the referendum.

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: The vote today in Iraq stands in stark contrast to the attitudes and philosophy and strategy of al Qaeda and its terrorist friends and killers. We believe and the Iraqis believe the best way forward is through the democratic process. Al Qaeda wants to use their violent ways to stop the march of democracy, because democracy is the exact opposite of what they believe is right. We're making progress toward peace. We're making progress toward an ally that will join us in the war on terror, that will prevent al Qaeda from establishing safe haven in Iraq, and a country that will serve as an example for others who aspire to live in freedom.

AMY GOODMAN: Saturday's vote was largely peaceful as a huge security clamp-down prevented all but a handful of strikes, although five U.S. soldiers and a marine were killed in western Iraq. On Sunday U.S. helicopters and warplanes bombed two villages near Ramadi in western Iraq. The U.S. military said 70 people were killed in the attacks, all of whom were militants, but eyewitnesses are quoted, saying many were civilians. We're joined now by Iraqi feminist, Yanar Mohammed, Director of the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq, a group that works to stop atrocities against Iraqi women and defend their rights. She also serves as Editor-in-Chief of the newspaper Al-Mousawat, which means equality. She joins us from Toronto. Welcome to Democracy Now!, Yanar.

YANAR MOHAMMED: Hi, Amy. How are you?

AMY GOODMAN: It’s good to have you with us. Can you talk about the vote, the constitution and your response to what look like it has passed?

YANAR MOHAMMED: You know, about the vote, Amy, there are a few people who said yes, against your comments where you said the Shiites were more for a yes vote, and the Kurds are also for a yes vote, because in what they call the Shiite cities, half of the voters of the last elections did not go to this referendum, and this is a very blunt no to this referendum, in the time that it was not counted as votes against the referendum. And also, in the north, in many Kurdish friends that I have, I hear that everybody is not satisfied with this constitution that will force Islamic Sharia on them. So most of the people are against this constitution, but those who had boycotted, those voices will not count. So, it will not be known.

Nobody is satisfied with a referendum that is establishing a constitution of division and oppression of women. All of the women's groups are against this constitution, but unfortunately, a big majority is voting yes, because they are under the impression that a vote yes will lead to more secure times in Iraq, and it's not just something that they are assuming, but they were told this over and over again by the puppet government that has been selected by the Americans and also by the occupying forces, that a vote yes is a yes for democracy. It is yes for security, and it’s yes for better times to come. So, most of those who are putting the ballot as yes, they are under the – they are alluded into a vote that they think will bring some security into the country, but nobody, absolutely nobody, is satisfied with a constitution of dividing Iraqi people upon ethnic lines, upon religious lines and also a constitution of turning us women into second-rate citizens.

And you know what, everybody is terrorized because the civil war has already started, and there is no mention in it in Condoleezza Rice's very optimistic speech. She says that democracy is being achieved, while in Iraq, all we witness is that we have no electricity, we have no security, the civil war has started, and a hideous way of democracy has been imposed on us, a democracy that has put Mullahs, ethnic bigot rulers, I mean, ethnic heads and tribal heads as representatives of Iraqi people. We are outraged by a constitution that gives legality to these tribal and ethnic heads and religious heads, and has turned Iraq into an Islamic country. Everybody is outraged, but if we reached the vote yes, it's only because people are under the impression that the vote yes will lead us to more secure times.

This is the publicity that they have put all over the media, and women have already been turned into second rate citizens by this constitution. I think next time I’m in Iraq, I'll have to cover up. I will be forced to veil. I will be forced to wear black, and there is no other way of looking at it.

AMY GOODMAN: Yanar Mohammed.

YANAR MOHAMMED: The Americans impose democracy.

AMY GOODMAN: How does the constitution specifically address women?

YANAR MOHAMMED: It has made it very clear under the first chapter of the main principles that the Sharia will be the main source, actually, the exact word is the base source of legislation, and any article that contradicts with Islamic Sharia cannot be passed under this constitution. So, we are speaking here about a whole family law that will be based on Sharia, in the time that our previous family law was more progressive. It had a big number of amendments to it. It was one of the best in the Middle East, and it gave women some kind of independence, while under this new family law that will be totally based on Islamic Sharia, women's rights in marriage, in divorce, in custody and even in access to work and education will be in the hands of the males.
In other words, we are not allowed to independence. We are not allowed to decisions in our lives, and we not speaking here about only appearances of wearing veil or not veil, but we are speaking about women having choices in their lives. We have lost those, and it is by constitution now. There is no other way to it, because no article that contradicts with Islamic Sharia will be allowed in the family law, and there isn't much elaboration about following the international conventions of ending the discrimination against women to prioritize them over religion. It says very clearly the priority is that the laws will not contradict with Islamic Sharia. So, there you go, all of the women are second-rate citizens in Iraq. There's another point, Amy.

AMY GOODMAN: Yanar --

YANAR MOHAMMED: I would like to elaborate on it.

AMY GOODMAN: Go ahead.

YANAR MOHAMMED: Another point about dividing Iraqi people upon their ethnic ideas and religious ideas, the bigger your minority is, your ethnic minority, the more rights you have. The bigger your religious minority, the more rights you have. So, we are speaking about Iraq being divided into bits and pieces, where in the south the Shiites will be prioritized to any other religion, and in the north, the Kurds will have priority to Arabs and to Turkmens. We are speaking about a very serious declaration of a civil war. This is the constitution that they are forcing Iraqi people to vote yes for. And how did they do that? Because they are telling us this is the only way of achieving security in Iraq. This is George Bush's hideous democracy in Iraq now, and they have forced us into it.

AMY GOODMAN: Yanar Mohammad, I want to thank you for being us with, Director of the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq, a group that works to defend women there, to defend their rights. She was speaking to us from Toronto, who lives much of the time in Baghdad, Iraq.

http://www.democracynow.org/

Toledo Youth Rebellion Sparked by Neo-Nazi Provocation

PANW Editor's Note: Today's youth rebellion in Toledo was sparked by the Neo-Nazi provocation in the face of growing alienation and oppression in this Ohio city. Obviously there are deeper underlying social issues that have not been addressed by the political and economic elites in this section of the city that lead to the destruction of buildings and the defiant confrontation with the local police.

Media accounts of the fighting today has focused more on the violence and the city authorities response. More attention much be focused on the growing socio-economic crisis in the urban areas of the United States which will inevitably provide the political context for more urban rebellions and other forms of resistance to the escalating crises in the American capitalist system.

Abayomi Azikiwe, Pan-African News Wire, Editor
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Updated: 07:27 PM EDT

Nazi Gathering in Ohio Sparks Violence

Mayor Blames Gangs for Vandalism; At Least Six Arrested

TOLEDO, Ohio (Oct. 15) - A crowd that gathered to protest a neo-Nazi march Saturday turned violent, throwing baseball-sized rocks at police, vandalizing vehicles and stores, and setting fire to a neighborhood bar, authorities said.

Mayor Jack Ford blamed the rioting on gang members taking advantage of a volatile situation. He said he was declaring a state of emergency and setting an 8 p.m. curfew. He also ask the Highway Patrol for help.

"It's exactly what they wanted,'' Ford said of the group that planned the march, which was called off because of the rioting.

At least two dozen members of the National Socialist Movement, which calls itself "America's Nazi Party,'' had gathered at a city park just before noon and were to march under police protection. Organizers said they were demonstrating against black gangs they said were harassing white residents.

Violence broke out about one-quarter of a mile away along the planned march route.

About 150 police officers in helicopters and on horses and foot chased bands of youths throughout the afternoon. Officers wearing gas masks fired tear gas canisters and flash-bang devices designed to stun suspects, only to see the groups reappear nearby and resume throwing rocks and bottles. A group pounded on a convenience store and overturned vehicles. A fire was set in a nearby bar. At least six people were arrested.

Police Chief Mike Navarre said officers had a report of a man shot in the area, but they had not found a victim. No other injuries had been reported, Navarre said.

The mayor had appealed to residents the night before to ignore the march.

He said the city indicated it wouldn't give the Nazis a permit to march in the streets but couldn't stop them from marching on the sidewalks like other citizens.

When the rioting broke out, Ford tried to negotiate with those involved, saying he would meet with them to discuss any grievances, but he said "they weren't interested in that.''

He said they were mostly "gang members who had real or imagined grievances and took it as an opportunity to speak in their own way.''

"I am disappointed that some folks who clearly are not strong citizens to begin with took this opportunity to make this statement,'' Ford said. "I was chagrined that there were obvious mothers and children in the crowd with them. Several intimated that they had guns.''

Thomas Frisch, 76, said a large group of men destroyed the exterior of a gas station next to his home of 30 years.

"A whole big gang started to come in here. Next thing you know, they're jumping on the car.

Then they overturned it. Then they started on the building, breaking windows, ripping the bars off,'' he said.

Keith White, a black resident, criticized city officials for initially allowing the march.

"They let them come here and expect this not to happen?'' said White, 29.

10/15/05 18:39 EDT
Back to: http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/articleAID=/20051015/BREAKINGNEWS/51015023 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Article published October 15, 2005

Violence in North Toledo after Nazi march canceled; mayor declares curfew

Residents gathered on Stickney Avenue near Woodward High School

BLADE STAFF

Mayor Jack Ford declared a state of emergency this afternoon following a violent uprising in North Toledo that erupted following an aborted march by a group of Nazis.

He issued a citywide curfew starting at 8 p.m. tonight, tomorrow, and possibly Monday.
Mr. Ford said those protesting were mainly male gang members in their 20s. He said the protests were not triggered by race relations but by gang members with grievances.

"We went to talk to them. Most of them were gang members in full colors," the mayor said.

"Their anger was based on some long-standing things but also that we had allowed the [Nazi] walk to occur in the first place."

North Toledo descended into chaos for several hours this afternoon after angry crowds who turned out to protest a planned march by a small group of National Socialist Movement calling themselves "America’s Nazi Party" erupted into violence.

A mob of at least 500 people threw bricks and rocks at police and vehicles, looted a bar at Central and Mulberry and started it on fire, and overturned a car at a North Toledo gas station and burned it.

There were reports of minor injuries to police and numerous arrests.

The violence started around noon as police were getting ready to escort about 15 Nazis on a march that was supposed to start at Wilson Park and continue on Mulberry Street and Bronson and Dexter Avenues, ending up back at the park.

Because of the violence - which broke out along Stickney Avenue away from the Nazis gathered in the park - police cancelled the march and told the Nazis to leave, which they did.

The violence began dying down around 4:30 p.m., according to Lt. Frank Ramirez of the Toledo Police Department. But Mr. Ramizez said it was touch-and-go for several hours, and he was concerned about possible violence tonight.

"Originally, it was just crowd control. Then it went out of control,"he said. "We just had to scramble" to bring in more police officers to back up the already beefed up presence of 150 officers on hand for the Nazi march.

"It was a mob. Obviously, the unexpected happened," Mr. Ramirez said.

He estimated at least 60 percent of Toledo’s police force was on duty just in the North Toledo area because of the violence, and the Lucas County sheriff’s office also was on hand.

Toledo Police chief Mike Navarre praised his officers, saying they "performed remarkably" and showed a lot of restraint. Before sending in police in force to make arrests at around 3:30 p.m., Mayor Ford and Toledo Fire Department chief Mike Bell approached the mob and attempted to negotiate a compromise. But as they talked, and as the crowd yelled and screamed at them, looters broke into the bar at Central and Mulberry and began taking merchandise.
Mr. Bell eventually began walking back toward a large group of police shaking his head.

"No more negotiating," he said. "We’re done. They just set a building on fire."

Chief Navarre said there were upwards of several dozen arrests made but he did not have exact numbers. He added that some police officers and fire fighters were injured in the melee but their injuries were not serious.

The chief said police could have arrested hundreds of people who were involved in incidents of looting, burning businesses, and throwing rocks.

Back to: http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/articleAID=/20051015/NEWS16/51015008

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Article published October 15, 2005

Planned Nazi march cancels food giveaway

A Nazi march planned for today has canceled a neighborhood food giveaway that usually distributes groceries to about 250 families on Saturdays.

The Rev. Waverly Earley, pastor of Wesley United Methodist Church, 2934 Stickney Ave., said she called off her church’s Feed Your Neighbor program. She cited concern over the “potential volatility” of a rally by the National Socialists Movement, a Virginia-based neo-Nazi group that said it would stage a march in North Toledo today.

“A lot of the people who come to our [distribution] site are large families, with five or six children. We don’t want to take any chances on those people being negatively affected” should marchers pass near the church, Pastor Earley said.

She said the program, which operates the last three Saturdays of the month, will resume next week with extended hours, from 9 a.m. to noon.

The Millions More Movement & Zionism

Weekend EditionOctober 8 / 9, 2005

"Whom the Gods Would Destroy, They First Make

By LENNI BRENNER

The Millions More Movement continues to grow, 10 years after Louis Farrakhan's 1995 Million Men's March drew hundreds of thousands of Black males to Washington. The MMM has called a three-day event, October 14-16. Friday is "A Day of Absence" from school & work. They march in Washington on Saturday. On Sunday there will be a mass "Unity Interfaith, Interdenominational Service."

The new model is vastly improved. Women & gays are involved. The leadership is all-inclusive politically, from Rev. Floyd Flake, an ex-Congressional Representative, backing Republican Michael Bloomberg in the New York mayoral race, thru to Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton & other Democratic careerists. But beyond them, I have worked with Elombe Brath of the Patrice Lumumba Coalition, Nellie Hester of the Harlem Tenants Council & Viola Plummer of the December 12th Movement, re apartheid, Palestine & Cuba. Unto a certainty, they are selflessly dedicated to Black people's interests.

Everyone is pleased? No. Abe Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League is furious. Black leaders attending the announcement gave Farrakhan "credibility and a pass on his anti-Semitism." Neo-con Kenneth Stern of the American Jewish Committee seconds Foxman. Farrakhan is "still promoting the basest type of anti-Semitism."

They are political suicide champs. Bill Clinton, who supported the 1995 march as President, hails the MMM. So does party chair Howard Dean. Everyone thinks Jews are smart. Even Hitler thought us cunning, great at plots & schemes. But Foxman & Stern would lose a poker game to a rock.

Clinton smothered the 1995 march with kisses & one of the biggest demos in US history vanished into the history books, nothing accomplished. Now Black Democrats want the MMM focused on domestic issues & the least controversial parts of the Black international agenda, food for Niger, more AIDS money for Africa south of the Sahara, etc. Up to their eyeballs in a party funded by the rich, it gives them a chance to put on populist-face make up. A massive but politically limited event works to their electioneering advantage.

The ADL & AJC could have said 'we support the demo, despite some of its leaders.' But American Zionism's leaders insist on proving Euripides right: "Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad." Now there is no evading discussion of Black/Jewish relations & Israel/Palestine. Thanks, Abe.

Democratic hopes to restrict the demo are a rerun of their ultimately unsuccessful pleas to Martin Luther King not to denounce the Vietnam war because he would lose White support for civil rights. Its impossible to have a serious massive Black demonstration in 2005 without discussing US foreign policy. AIDS does rages in Africa. Niger does face famine. A Black Secretary of State does represent Bush while Black soldiers kill & are killed in Afghanistan & Iraq. The Sudan is still in crisis. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, surrounded by corruption, acknowledges that UN troops have committed rapes in Africa.

W. E. B. DuBois, Marcus Garvey, C. L. R. James, Huey Newton, Paul Robeson, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Kwame Ture, would have insisted that a Black movement deal with every aspect of international affairs when Blacks are involved in every nook & cranny of them. The MMM can do no less.

Wool sellers know wool buyers. Zionist funders know the follies, mistakes, sins & crimes of all major characters in the Black cast. They know that most Democratic officeholders won't break with their Jewish counterparts even if Ariel Sharon personally nuked their granny. But we can inform thousands in the MMM ranks. They can be a base for a broader American movement that can run candidates against the Republicans & Democrats, & beat Bush in the streets.

Quality documentation at the Washington rally will make folks want to learn more about all the Middle Eastern issues.

The ADL/AJC rants open the MMM ranks to anti-Zionist explanations for the Jewish establishment's rage. We must prepare leaflets re Zionism's relations with Blacks. This genre must focus on undisputed Zionist misdeeds while explaining that Zionism doesn't represent all Jews. From 1985 until his death in 1998, I worked with Kwame Ture in the Coalition Against Zionism and Racism. Millions of Americans knew Stokely Carmichael (his birth name) as the 60s "Black power" organizer of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee. He put this well in the 5/91 issue of our publication, The Anti-War Activist: "Africans must transform the anti-war movement to an anti-capitalist and anti-Zionist movement. We have no choice. If we don't bow down to Zionism we are chastised or destroyed.

The Zionists tried to chastise Mandela for his support for the PLO. They control our community's politicians. Look how they work harder for Israel than for Azania/South Africa! We must properly distinguish between Judaism and Zionism. But our slogan must be King's slogan: 'Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.'"

Israel was South Africa's closest ally. But South African Jewish leftists played leading roles in the African National Congress struggle against apartheid.

Indeed we must do more. We must denounce Black Republicans Powell, Rice & Co., for their role in all of Bush's war crimes. We must show Black 'leaders' staying on in their party while Democratic administrations sent Black tax money to Israel while it openly armed apartheid.

With the cold war against 'godless Communism,' Democratic & Republican administrations whipped up religious fanaticism against the Soviet Union. In 1979, Democrat Jimmy Carter started funding Islamic fundamentalists against a Stalinist regime in Afghanistan. Eventually the free world terrorists won & it was a hop, skip & jump to 9/11.

Washington's madness had its precedent. The Social Democrats & Communists got 36% & 12% of the votes in Germany's 1928 election. With the 1929 Depression, Germany's capitalists weren't thinking of killing Jews. All they wanted was a Commie-basher. Carter & Reagan needed Commie-bashers & these were handy. But pump up crackpots' muscles with the best of all steroids, guns, & they take power, they do what they want to do, not just what their patrons wanted. Washington thought it was using them. But its terrorists thought that Allah allied with the crusaders against atheism so that they should then take on the crusaders.

We must denounce Black Congressional Democrats who said little or nothing re Wall Street's bipartisan alliance with the Saudis & Pakistan, in making a world-class military power out of Islamic terrorism.

Karl von Clausewitz (1780-1831), the classic military authority, famously said, "War is nothing but the continuation of politics by other means." Reverse his aphorism. Politics is nothing but the continuation of war by other means. A good general wants to know the strengths & weaknesses of his army as well as his foe's. In politics, winning means overcoming your side's failings.

Ron Daniels, a serious scholar, has declared that "It's one thing to talk a bout a march, and quite another to put in the work to sustain a movement, which is what we want to do." He is "committed to deal with the follow-up part of the mission, and through the Institute of the Black World we will develop ways to sustain the movement."

That is decisive. He says that "As a people we have often been victimized by skin politics because we do not think critically, engage in critical discussions about the issues of the day or engage in constructive criticism of our leaders. To be a critical thinker is to refuse to simply accept things as they appear on the surface, to question and analyze before acting. To complete our journey towards liberation, we need informed, tough minded, critical thinking Africans who are unwilling to accept pronouncements from on high from Black leaders or anyone else without a serious and thoughtful examination of the questions and issues at hand."

In that light, below is a critique of Farrakhan & the Black Democrats. The MMM can only profit from such an analysis because it is a classic case of the whole being very definitely greater than the sum of its parts. Debates & scholarly panels build sustained movements. With time, the
Black left can win over the MMM ranks to scientific politics.

Following the critique are documents incriminating Zionists in crimes against Blacks. Readers are encouraged to pass them along via the internet & to turn them into leaflets at MMM events.

LOUIS FARRAKHAN

In many respects, Louis Farrakhan is one of the most incredible figures in America. Oxymoronism (Greek oxys/acute - moros/foolish), has become an intellectual buzz word, but there is no better example of it than the leader of the Nation Of Islam.

He came to national attention after Malcolm X broke with the Nation & its leader, Elijah Muhammad. He was a leading NOI ranter against Malcolm, who had recruited him to the Nation. "Louis X" announced in the 12/4/64 issue of Muhammad Speaks that Malcolm was
"like the famous rebel, Korah, in the times of Moses.... Another parable depicting Malcolm is that of Judas.... The die is set and Malcolm shall not escape, especially after such evil talk about his benefactor (Elijah Muhammad) in trying to rob him of the divine glory which Allah has bestowed upon him. Such a man as Malcolm is worthy of death, and would have met death if it had not been for Muhammad's confidence in Allah for victory over the enemies."

On 2/21/65 elements in the Nation of Islam assassinated Malcolm. Farrakhan admitted this in the 3/29/93 issue of his present journal, The Final Call:
"I'm not a killer, but when you mess with that man (Elijah Muhammad) I become that, because that man gave me life. Elijah Muhammad taught me what I know. He taught me how to eat to live that I could produce children of consequence. If you want to live, you leave that man alone where we are concerned. When Malcolm stepped across that line death was inevitable."

But on 5/6/95 he confessed to Malcolm's widow, Betty Shabazz, at a public meeting called to acknowledge their crime. FBI head "J. Edgar Hoover was determined that no Black Messiah would rise to unite our people in their quest for justice and true liberation.... Our zeal, our love and hatred, our ignorance was manipulated by powerful outside forces and the result is that members of the Nation of Islam were involved in the assassination of Malcolm X."

In 1965, Black outrage at the murder isolated the NOI. Then, after Elijah Muhammad's 1975 death, his son Wallace abandoned Black nationalism for Sunni Islam. He renamed the movement the American Muslim Mission. In 1978 Farrakhan broke with the AMM & reconstituted the Nation.

In his prime, Farrakhan was a sensational orator. In 1968, the Mayor of San Francisco announced the arrest of a group within the NOI for murdering whites on their own, not under orders from the sect. Farrakhan came immediately to the University of California at Berkeley. He spoke to a packed house. He assured everyone that the Nation had nothing to do with the crimes. He came to find out if the accused were guilty. If they were, they should go to prison.

Black & white, from left to right, you can't imagine a more skeptical audience. But within minutes everyone felt relaxed as he discussed the Black situation. He spoke for an hour, then took questions. Towards the end, he referred to his speech as "my symphony," & got loud applause from people, many having come there thinking they would hear someone whose followers murdered innocent whites at his orders. I challenge anyone to match that for rhetorical success. (The accused went to prison. The murders stopped. Black radicals, along with everyone else, took that to mean that they were indeed guilty. Today no one accuses the NOI of involvement in their conspiracy.)

A triumph it was, yet his later notions run from sane to crackpot. Perhaps his most grotesque concoction was a 10/28/92 speech, "Obedience is the highest form of sacrifice," in which he told the world that, after the expulsion from the Garden of Eden, "Shabazz" was punished for creating the 1st white. He "took his family into the jungles of... Africa, to make a people close to nature. And the Hon. Elijah Muhammad said this is the origin of 'kinky' hair because we didn't have 'kinky' hair prior to that, the hair on our head was like the hair on our eye brow.... Wouldn't you like the hair on your head to be as straight as the hair on your eye brow? That's why you are so busy frying it.... Because most of your family of other black people on earth, jet black, they didn't have no broad nose and thick lips and 'kinky' hair.... We are marked as a different kind of black person and we were rejected and despised not only from the circle of the Gods, but we were despised and rejected by all the other dark people....

Why are we rejected? Because the essence of beauty is in obedience and submission to God and the essence of ugliness is when you rebel against God. And when you rebel against God, in your rebellion you are marked with a certain mark of your rebellion; which is the disfigurement of your internal self which manifests in the disfigurement of your external self. And this is why when you look at our people, wherever we are found on the earth, you find us disfiguring ourselves physically because we are disfigured on the inside because of rebellion."

This outraged nationalist intellectuals. Elombe Brath declared that "this is an indication of how many of our people, even some so-called leaders, have internalized these notions propagated by our enemies." (Amsterdam News, 2/13/93)

During the build up for the 1995 march, Farrakhan told a Washington rally that "10 years ago he had a vision of being swept into a UFO that took him to a larger mothership. There, he said, the late Elijah Muhammad told him that then President Ronald Reagan was plotting a war. He said the vision ended with him being beamed to Earth from the spaceship. 'I really don't care if you think I'm a nut,'" he said, "explaining to the audience that he had debated even sharing the story." (Washington Post, 9/18/95)

Of course such blather isn't why Zionists denounce him. Decades ago, I was in New York's Madison Square Garden when Billy Graham told us that he believed that, after they die, God sends Christians to other planets to convert the people there. And Graham admits that he shared Richard Nixon's anti-Semitism. But the ADL didn't tell people not to attend his recent New York fairwell. Their hostility to Farrakhan is an outgrowth of the "Hymietown" affair during Jesse Jackson's 1984 bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Jackson called NYC Hymietown in a 'let's talk Black' chat with a Black reporter. Hymie was a Jewish name of the immigrant generation. He could have explained that 'talkin' Black' means using slang. Indeed Jews, when talking informally about some Jewish aspect of the city, have been known to call it Jew York. But Jackson denied he said it, then confessed his dread crime.

After demonstrations against Jackson by the terrorist Jewish Defense League, Farrakhan warned that there would be retaliation "if you harm this brother." He expounded on Israel:
"The Zionists are those Jewish persons who wanted a homeland for the Jews.... but they wanted to fulfill the vision without fulfilling the preconditions.... It was your cold naked scheming.... against the lives of a people there in Palestine.... you pushed out the original inhabitants.... Now that nation called Israel never has had any peace.... because there can be no peace structured on injustice, thievery, lying and deceit and using the name of God to shield your gutter religion under His holy and righteous name.... You hate us because we dare to say that.... It is the black people in America that is the chosen people of almighty God."

Jackson happily accepted Farrakhan's support for his campaign. But he had to denounce him over "gutter religion." However that didn't hurt Farrakhan. In 1985 he packed national auditoriums, denouncing Jews. Stanley Crouch explained why in the 10/29/85 Village Voice:
"When Farrakhan... baited Jews... he... plumbs the battles that have gone on between black people and Jews for almost 20 years. He speaks to (though not for) those who have fought with Jews over affirmative action, or have felt locked out of discussions about Middle East policy by Jews."

Add Israel's alliance with Pretoria to Crouch's issues. After Hymietown, most Black Democratic office holders never made an issue out of Israel/South Africa. Their careers were more important to them than the rights or lives of Palestinians or South Africans. But many Blacks knew of the alliance. Farrakhan took it on, so they listened, even while voting Democrat.

The NOI had a group of young scholars research the Jewish role in Black slavery. Its Research Department published The Secret Relationship Between Blacks and Jews. I reviewed it in 1992 in NY's Amsterdam News. I said that if I were a prof, I'd give it a B.

It accurately dealt with the extent of Jewish involvement in Christian enslavement of Blacks. But they said nothing about Jewish slave merchants in the Muslim world. Re the US, the book completely distorted the role of Theodore Wiener.

A German Jew, he came to Kansas in the 1850s, to trade with both sides during the struggle between the slavery & free-state forces. He was pro-slavery but his Jewish partners were abolitionists. A pro-slavery German, assuming that he was an abolitionist like his partners, tried to kill him. Instead, Wiener beat up the slaver. He then took refuge with his neighbors, John Brown's sons. Brown converted him to his racially egalitarian radical abolitionism.

But the RD's sole statement about Wiener was in an appendix, "Jews of the Black Holocaust." It listed reprehensible Jews during slavery: "Theodore Wiener proclaimed himself to be a 'rank pro-slavery man' {1255}." Note 1255 sent us to the American Jewish Archives, vol. 8, p 92. But there we found "Theodore Wiener, Bondi's business partner who had lived in Texas and Louisiana, was a "rank pro-slavery man." When Wiener went to Kansas he refused to join the pro-slavery group, but continued to do business with them. It was only after an unsuccessful attempt on his life by a brother of the notorious Dutch Henry that he openly joined forces with the anti-slavery faction (August Bondi, in Memoirs of American Jews 1775-1865, vol. 2)."

Wiener was one of seven volunteers who accompanied Brown on the glorious night of 5/24-25/1856. Missouri 'border ruffians' had wrecked Lawrence, an abolitionist town. Timid anti-slavery leaders put up no resistance. Then Brown heard that triumphant Pottawatomie Creek slavers had threatened to kill the local abolitionists. Brown decided to punish them.

Wiener executed two of the five slavers brought to judgment, after two of Brown's sons wouldn't slay them. Wiener was nothing less than a central figure in Act I, Scene 1 of the downfall of American slavery. The RD demoting Brown's "terrible swift sword" back to a "pro-slavery man" was fantastic.

I gave them a B instead of an F because the book was put together by a team, each member handling a chapter. It was possible that the editor didn't know that one of his guys did a hatchet job on Wiener. But on 3/1/2000, I lectured at Wellesley College, in defense of a Black professor who had been denounced for using their book in his Black studies class. I gave its good & bad points. RD folks were present but said nothing in the discussion period. Then they posted a response to my critique on their website: "The three Jews mentioned by Brenner, August Bondi, Theodore Wiener and Jacob Benjamin, wanted nothing more than to sell their wares to whichever side had ready cash and were not abolitionist ideologues by any reckoning. They became accidentally involved in an on-going border war which pitted pro-slavery forces against abolitionists, neither of whom welcomed Blacks as equals in mind, body or rights."

A still pro-slavery businessman didn't execute slavers after the great abolitionist's own sons wouldn't do it. Bondi tells us how impressed he was by Brown converting Wiener into a radical abolitionist. Their 2000 defense means that I was wrong in 1992. I should have given them an F.

Fortunately, that element later got discredited inside the NOI. Farrakhan gained credibility in the 90s when he stepped forward to care for Ture as he battled cancer. Indeed Eric Muhammad of the NOI was Kwame's physical attendant when I paid my last visit to him. After our taped discussion, I went to the next room to pack up to leave. As I went by Kwame's door I heard Eric warn him that I was a Jew. "He's a revolutionary!" were the last words I heard my comrade speak. Pride is one of the seven deadly sins. But I confess that the great Black liberator's words made me proud. Imagine my further joy when I read the 8/23/03 AmNews:
"James G. Muhammad... editor of... The Final Call, has lost his job for mishandling a story that erroneously implicated Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. and Samuel "Billy" Kyles in the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King.... The original story carried the... byline of Eric Ture Muhammad.... Eric Ture Muhammad... also resigned."

Farrakhan cleaned up his act. Today's weekly combines writings of Elijah Muhammad & transcribed Farrakhan orations with material from outside Black & US left writers. Farrakhan & others are sometimes politically wrong. But they are often on target.

In the end, the key question is whether Farrakhan is an anti-Semite today. The answer is no. He believes that his grandfather, a white Portuguese, was of Jewish decent. He loves Jewish liturgical music, heard as a child in Boston. He gave up the violin when he became an NOI minister, only taking it up again in the 90s, with his Jewish teacher. In 1993 he publically played Felix Mendelssohn's violin concerto. The NY Times reported that he "talked of reconciliation with American Jews." He would "try to do with music what cannot be done with words and try to undo with music what words have done."

In 1996, he met Edgar Bronfman, President of the World Jewish Congress. Bronfman thought the meeting went well. Later, Farrakhan made a speech, comparing Iraqi children's hunger & deaths to the holocaust. This was too much for Bronfman. How dare anyone compare Iraqi deaths to Jewish deaths! He ended their talks.

Farrakhan continued showing that he isn't hostile to Jews qua Jews. The 11/30/99 Final Call front paged a photo of him meeting anti-Zionist Orthodox rabbis:
"The Honorable Elijah Muhammad hinted to us in one of his writings that the problem between the Jewish community and us in the United States would be worked out. So we believe that this (meeting) is not accidental... this is part of God's divine planning for us."

No mincing words: Anyone who thinks a Black who talks about his Jewish grandfather, has rabbis as guests & brings his Jewish teacher on stage to share his bows, is an anti-Semite, desperately needs a Jewish psychiatrist.

While Foxman evolves into an ever greater crank, even in Democratic eyes, today's NOI is well past its shameful Malcolm episode. The 8/9 Final Call warned foreign Muslims here "to resist the lure of fanaticism and suicide martyrdom."

The problem with Farrakhan's anti-Zionism is that he sermonizes against Israeli oppression. Then his audience goes home. Nothing happens. Black radicals must call on the MMM to organize demos at Israeli consulates across the US. Farrakhan & the rabbis of the Neturei Karta (The Guardians of the City) talked the talk. The MMM should invite them to walk the walk together, for equality & justice in a democratic secular binational Palestine/Israel.

THE BLACK DEMOCRATS

Blacks & Jews vote overwhelmingly Democrat. However most Blacks don't give a penny to Black politicians. Jews are only 2% of Americans but a 1985 American Jewish Congress pamphlet, The Political Future of American Jews, estimated that "as much as a quarter of Republican funds have come from Jewish sources." The 1/5/93 NY Times declared that "Jews contributed about 60 percent of Mr. Clinton's noninstitutional campaign funds," i.e., money from individuals.

If Black Democrats take on Zionism, Jewish money which they get thru the party turns against them. Georgia's Cynthia McKinney's defeat in the 2002 House election was due to out of state Zionist cash going to her rival. Fear makes cowards out most Black office holders. But some are more than mere cowards.

Demagoguery is making use of popular prejudices for political advantage. By the dictionary, many prominent Black Democrats are demagogues. Hustling money & votes in New York City, where Jews are 10% of the population, ends up with US weapons going to Israel, which legally discriminates against Arabs. In the modern world, legal discrimination against any ethnic group automatically produces resistance. Those weapons get used. Playing to domestic Jewish chauvinism here becomes a war crime there, whether committed by Blacks or Whites.

Democrat Jim Zogby of the Arab-American Institute told it all re David Dinkins, the city's only Black Mayor, in the 10/17/89 Newsday: "In 1988, Arab-Americans worked with David Dinkins and his campaign manager, Bill Lynch, in support of Jesse Jackson. They raised significant amounts of money for the campaign and participated in voter registration and get-out-the-vote efforts.

In 1989 David Dinkins has turned his back on this community. I attended a meeting with Lynch in which Arab-Americans were told that they could not develop a support group for the campaign, could not organize a fundraiser that would be attended by Dinkins and could not be visibly associated with the candidate. The reason given was that it might cost Dinkins Jewish votes."

Former Citibank Exec Carl McCall ran for Governor of New York in 2002. The 3/13/02 Times ran a photo captioned "State Comptroller H. Carl McCall's visit to Israel last week included target practice with an M-16 assault rifle." He was "conducting shooting practice at what his aides said was an antiterrorist camp at an undisclosed location in Israel."

His ad in the 8/30/02 Forward, the leading 'Jewish community' weekly, declared that he was "the 1st Comptroller to invest New York State pension funds in State of Israel Bonds, declaring it 'a good financial investment and an important moral investment in the Middle East's only democracy.'"

William Thompson, the city's Comptroller, is just as bad. The 10/3/03 Jewish World had him to the right of Bush: "Thompson said that the administration is wrong to threaten to withhold loan guarantees from Israel because of settlement-building in the West Bank."

Jesse Jackson stopped running for President after 1988. But cabinet member was still possible. However he knew that couldn't be done if the Israel lobby only thought of him re Hymietown. So he showed up in Brussels in 1992 for a World Jewish Congress conference: "Zionism by its soundest definition [is] a liberation movement whose object is to secure a state for its people. It must be seen as that, and not with negative connotations attached to it." (Newsday, 7/8/92) According to that day's NY Times, "He said the recent repudiation by the United Nations of its resolution equating Zionism and racism was like the Berlin wall coming down."

Perpetual candidate Al Sharpton did what Democratic hustlers did before him. In 2001, the Israeli consulate & Sharpton's National Action Network organized a meeting of victims of a Tel Aviv suicide bomb & Blacks who lost family members in the World Trade Center. A gathering for terror victims sounds like the best kind of ecumenicalism. But it was part of a campaign to get into the good graces of the Jewish establishment. The 11/30/01 Forward announced that "Sharpton is expected next month to visit with Jonathan Pollard in his North Carolina prison. Mr. Pollard's wife... said the visit would be sponsored by the Israeli consulate."

Pollard is an American Jew doing big time as an Israeli spy. Zionists say he should be let out ASAP because, after all, he was spying for an ally. The military brass insists that he do every second of his sentence. Its hard to believe that Sharpton thought his visit could help Pollard. It was aimed at the US Jewish establishment: Do right by me & I will do right for you.

John Conyers represents Michigan in the House. The state is the only one where Arab votes are
potentially crucial. He is on the left of his party re the Middle East. He once put an article of mine into the Congressional Record. But in the wake of charges that someone said something anti-Semitic at an informal hearing on Iraq that he convened, the 6/24/05 Forward had him dutifully announcing that he was a "friend and supporter of Israel."

I met Conyers in 1988. He's a pussy cat personally & we had a great time. But he made it clear that he was "a Democrat, not a petunia." Now, proclaiming support for Israel, he is still saying that he is not a petunia. His homicidal party is better than the Republicans on other issues more important to him than Palestinian rights.

The 6/14/05 Final Call quoted Mary Berry, ex-chair of the US Commission on Civil Rights: "Everyone knows that Blacks are the most loyal folk to the Democratic Party.... And what do we get for our loyalty? African Americans should form an independent political movement, not a party... and say, 'This is what our issues are and any candidate who supports these issues we will support. And if you don't support them, we won't support you.'"

Farrakhan takes this a step further. Final Call says that he "argues that Black people are not being respected by either Democrats or Republicans, and he recently expressed the potential strength of an independent candidacy for president in 2008. In a panel discussion before the National Conference of Black Mayors in April, Minister Farrakhan said, 'If we leverage our strength, we'll make both parties bow and you'll get what you've been looking for all the time that you've been serving the Party.'"

As the MMM grows, his perspective enlarges. In the 8/23 Final Call he asks a reasonable question: "So why do Black people and Latino people, Native American and White people themselves need the Millions More Movement?" He answered his own question: "You no longer have representative government. How can these rich speak for the poor?"

Farrakhan talks about "a party of the poor." But he isn't about to lead it. Progressive notions share Final Call with denunciations of "marijuana, pork, de-natured food and canned goods." For him, the curse of ham is as bad for Blacks as the Biblical curse of Ham. But other MMM leaders, like Huey & Kwame before them, go right on eating pig & smoking pot. They correctly march with him when he is right & go their own way when he is wrong.

In that spirit, they must build 10/15. Then they must organize the promised educational program. Debates, starting with discussion of Farrakhan's proposal for "an independent candidacy in 2008," indeed in 2006, must be a top MMM priority.

Lenni Brenner is the editor of Jefferson & Madison on Separation of Church and State: Writings on Religion and Secularism and a contributor to The Politics of Anti-Semitism. He also edited 51 Documents: Zionist Collaboration with the Nazis. He can be reached at BrennerL21@aol.com.
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"Dr. von Weisl Believes in Fascism," World Jewry (London), 6/12/1936:
[Note: The prime ideological force in Ariel Sharon's party, the Likud (Union), is a movement calling itself Zionist-Revisionism, founded by Vladimir Jabotinsky, an avowed colonialist.

After the British conquered Palestine during WW l, the League of Nations gave London a 'mandate' to rule the country. Britain had promised to create a 'homeland' in Palestine as bait to get Jewish support during the war. But Jabotinsky realized that London was only using the Zionists as a cat's paw against the Arab natives, without intending to set up a Jewish state. The Revisionists looked for a new mandatory. Their 1st choice was Fascist Italy, Britain's imperial rival in the Mediterranean & Africa.

In contrast, most of Jewish political opinion opposed Mussolini & denounced Revisionism as Jewish fascists. - LB]

The French newspaper in Bucharest, the "Moment," which is regarded as one of the organs of the Roumanian Foreign Ministry, has published an interview with the Revisionist leader, Dr. von Weisl.

The Revisionist leader accused the Zionist leaders of Socialist sympathies, and he declared that, although opinions among the Revisionists varied, in general they sympathized with Fascism, and they were strong opponents of Socialism and Communism.

He, personally, was a supporter of Fascism, and he rejoiced at the victory of Fascist Italy in Abyssinia as a triumph of the White races against the Black. He also asserted the Revisionists wanted to bring to Palestine, within the next ten years, 900,000 Jews from Poland, 300,000 from Roumania and 300,000 from Germany.

Finally, he stated that the Revisionists had no desire to colonize Jews in Abyssinia, and that, in his opinion, it would be well for the Arab strike in Palestine to continue for several weeks more, as by then the authority of the Arab leaders would be completely broken for a number of years.
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Eren Kaplan, The Jewish Radical Right: Revisionist Zionism And Its Ideological Legacy, University of Wisconsin Press, (2005) p. 156:
[Note: Benito Mussolini responded to the Revisionists by training their youth group, Beitar, at his naval academy. - LB]

The Revisionist leadership was well aware of the potential implications of opening a school in fascist Italy, as this would provide the Revisionists' opponents with propaganda material. Revisionist leaders wanted the cadets to keep away from any involvement in local politics....

Nonetheless, the Beitar cadets were very involved in local politics. In his History of Hebrew Seamanship Halperin wrote that the cadets, despite opposition from their superiors, expressed public support for Mussolini's regime. During the Italian campaign in Ethiopia the Beitarist cadets march alongside Italian soldiers in a demonstration in support of the war, and it was brought to Halperin's attention that they collected metal scraps and sent them to the Italian weapons industry.
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Drew Middleton, "South Africa Needs More Arms, Israeli Says," NY Times, 12/14/81:

The military relationship between South Africa and Israel, never fully acknowledged by either country, has assumed a new significance with the recent 10 day visit by Israel's Defense Minister, Ariel Sharon, to South African forces in Namibia along the border with Angola.

In an interview during his recent visit to the United States, Mr. Sharon made several points concerning the South African position.

First, he said that South Africa is one of the few countries in Africa and southwestern Asia that is trying to resist Soviet military infiltration in the area.

He added that there had been a steady flow of increasingly sophisticated Soviet weapons to Angola and other African nations, and that as a result of this, and Moscow's political and economic leverage, the Soviet Union was "gaining ground daily" throughout the region.

U.N. ARMS EMBARGO

Mr. Sharon, in company with many American and NATO military analysts, reported that South Africa needed more modern weapons if it is to fight successfully against Soviet-Supplied troops. The United Nations arms embargo, imposed in November 1977, cut off established weapons sources such as Britain, France and Israel, and forced South Africa into under-the-table deals.

Under these arrangements, weapons and spare parts are sold by major European arms producers to nongovernmental middlemen. The latter sell the arms to South Africa, usually shipping them in secret, either through a country that is nonaligned or one where customs inspectors are prepared to look the other way for a bribe.

Israel, which has a small but flourishing arms export industry, benefited from South African military trade before the 1977 embargo.

According to The Military Balance, the annual publication of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, the South African Navy includes seven Israeli-built fast attack craft armed with Israeli missiles. The publication noted that seven more such vessels are under order. Presumably the order was placed before the 1977 embargo was imposed.

SHORTAGE OF SPARE PARTS

Because of the embargo, South Africa faces an acute shortage of spare parts. Some spare parts for its British-made centurion tanks have arrived in South Africa via the Channel Islands, according to British sources. There are other reports that South Africa has purchased 41 Centurions and the Tiger cat missile system from Jordan.

With some surreptitious help from foreign friends, South Africa has also managed to deploy the Entac antitank missile, manufactured in France, and a modern radar system covering its northern frontiers.

South Africa's arms industry has so far made the country self-sufficient in a number of areas including small arms, bombs, mortars and armored cars, according to the British source. South Africa is also producing on license the French designed Mirage fighter.

South Africa, in the view of NATO analysts, is superior militarily and will remain so for some years in the air and at sea. The air force with its 239 combat aircraft, including 48 Mirage fighters, is quantitatively and qualitatively superior to any other air force or combination of air forces south of the Sahara.

Mr. Sharon said Moscow and its allies had made sizable gains in Central Africa and had established "corridors of power," such as one connecting Libya and Chad. He said that Mozambique was under Soviet control and that Soviet influence was growing in Zimbabwe.

The Israeli official, a successful commander of armored forces in two wars with the Arabs, saw the placement of Soviet weapons, particularly tanks, throughout the area as another danger.
South Africa's military policy of maintaining adequate reserves, Mr. Sharon said, will enable it to keep forces in the field in the foreseeable future but he warned that in time the country may be faced by more powerful weapons and better armed and trained soldiers.
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Lenni Brenner, "Ture's Jewish Friend," Village Voice (Letters), 8/20/91:

Nat Hentoff's August 13 denunciation of Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael) as an anti-Semite ["Blacks and Jews. Those Were the Days"] gives a false picture of him. Hentoff claims that "to Ture and other passionate anti-Semites... the words 'Jew' and 'Zionist' are utterly interchangeable." Really? Ture knows I'm a Jew. Yet he has been a guest in my home, and in May he contributed an article to The Anti-War Activist, which I edit. He did this because I'm an anti-Zionist, and, as he wrote, "We must properly distinguish between Judaism and Zionism. But our slogan must be King's slogan: 'Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.'"

Hentoff paints Kwame as a menace to Jews. He claims that, after Ture spoke at the University of Maryland in 1986, "swastikas were drawn on the door of the Jewish student newspaper office." Does Hentoff believe that Ture had anything to do with attacking that office with the symbol of white racism? Similarly, he says that in February of this year, after Ture spoke at Amherst, an Israeli flag was burned. Again Hentoff doesn't tell us if he believes Kwame had anything to do with the incident. But he gives us this not too subtle innuendo: "Jewish students got the message, and it wasn't only about Israel." However, there were no slogans against Jews, or Hentoff would have told of them.

Ture has been speaking on campuses for years. Hentoff obviously cited from a dossier reporting his activities. Yet these two incidents, five years apart, are the only physical acts even insinuated to have involved this "passionate anti-Semite."

Hentoff guotes Ture's defiant line: "The only good Zionist is a dead Zionist." Obviously this is rhetoric. Not even Hentoff claims Ture tries to kill Zionists. And surely Hentoff, a "good" Zionist, i.e., opposed to Israel's constant crimes, doesn't dispute the African political context for this cry of outrage: an Israeli military mission gave Idi Amin the strategy to come to power in Uganda; Israel arms South Africa; it reorganized Doe's secret police in Liberia and armed Mengistu in Ethiopia; it trains Mobutu's army in Zaire. These are crimes against Africa.

Kwame knows I don't share his rhetorical style. I don't talk about dead Zionists, dead anybody. But I agree with his essential point. Just as there were no good Nazis, there are no good Zionists. If you support a movement, and it commits murder, you don't try to be a loyal opposition. You break with it, root and branch, and you do what you can to destroy it. If you stay inside such a movement, you end up a good-for-nothing, denouncing those who really do fight against its crimes.
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Lenni Brenner, The ADL's National Director is Crazy like a Foxman (1993):

The ADL and the affirmative action question

As many readers well know, whole Canadian forests have been chopped down in recent years to provide newsprint for articles on Black anti-Semitism. Such pieces frequently begin with a nostalgic look back at the good ol' 'Black-Jewish alliance' of the early 1960s when the ADL was part of the great -- dare I say it? -- multicultural coalitions that marched behind Martin Luther King.

Such articles usually then turn into tales of Black ingratitude. In life the Jewish establishment was only part of such an alliance until the Black movement began to call for affirmative action quotas, and the left-wing of the movement began to support the Palestinians as fellow oppressed. From then on the ADL has been a fanatic opponent of Black liberation. Jonathan Kaufman's Broken Alliance tells of how Jack Greenberg, long-time head of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, came to see the ADL:
"As legal cases involving affirmative action began to appear in the courts in the early 1970s, the Legal Defense Fund began filing lawsuits... One of the first cases involved a challenge to the New York prison system, which had never promoted a black correction officer above the entry level... The Legal Defense Fund sued successfully... When the case was appealed, Greenberg was stunned to discover that the Anti-Defamation League had filed a brief opposing the affirmative action plan... He did not know officials at the ADL well. But he... called several of them up... (Eventually) Greenberg felt some officials of the ADL, the most vociferous opponents of affirmative action, had become 'haters.'" (pp. 111-112)

In its most notorious anti-affirmative action campaign, the ADL was one of a gaggle of right-wing Jewish groups, plus several gentile "unmeltable ethnic" outfits, the Fraternal Order of Police, the Chamber of Commerce and other free-market freedom-fightin' guys, who submitted amici curiae briefs on Allen Bakke's behalf when he sued the University of California at Davis for setting aside 16 seats in its medical school for minorities. In 1978 the Supreme Court ruled that the school's plan discriminated against whites.

In the August 1985 issue of Commentary, Harvard sociology professor Nathan Glazer gave us the "pragmatic considerations" behind the Jewish establishment's undying hatred of quotas:
"Jews were already 'over-represented' in the institutions that were becoming battlefields... If it were to be generally conceded that each ethnic/racial group should be represented proportionately... what would happen to the over-represented?"

There is no doubt that Glazer, who is intimate with the Jewish establishment, was referring to the ADL, amongst the others, when he wrote the above. And in fact the ADL does give a distinctly 'Jewish' spin to its opposition to quotas. The December 1978 ADL Bulletin quotes Nathan Perlmutter, Foxman's predecessor as National Director, on quotas:
"The message of the 1960s civil rights movement, he explains, was to be color blind, to judge a person on his individual merits. 'Now, guided and abetted by government agencies, there is massive backsliding to quotas, to evaluating a person on such extraneous factors as race. The simple incontrovertible fact is that quotas in favor of one group, by definition, means quotas against another group. That's the very essence of the Nuremberg Laws.'"

According to the November 1979 ADL Bulletin, the ADL "submitted a 'friend of the court' brief" in a case, Fullilove v. Kreps, "concerned with the constitutionality of the Federal Public Works Employment Act of 1977, which provides that no grant for public works shall be made unless the applicant assures... that at least 10 percent of each grant sum be expended for 'minority' business enterprises... (The) ADL... opposes this quota and questions the legality of laws which establish governmentally-designated and protected groups. 'Stamping the imprimatur of the Federal government upon a particular racial or ethnic definition, and granting and withholding benefits to individuals accordingly,' our brief points out, 'calls to mind notorious examples of attempts by other governments to define racial and ethnic groups, such as the Nuremberg laws in the Third Reich defining a 'Jew.'"

People get sent to mad houses for a lot less than this. The notion that a law, doubtlessly supported by a majority of congressional Democrats, designed to bring a small measure of economic justice to Blacks, Spanish-speakers, Orientals, Indians, Eskimos and Aleuts, was really no better than Nazi anti-Jewish legislation, takes my breath away. The idea that affirmative action quotas in favor of minorities, might be used, someday in the future, as a pretext to discriminate against Jews, is a notion that hasn't occurred to anyone outside the Jewish establishment. There were Jews among the congressional majorities that voted in every affirmative action law. Surely no such scheme was thought to be sanctioned by them. Were the gentiles in those congresses, black or white, even remotely contemplating discrimination against Jews? Of course not!

The Nazi laws were measures taken against a minority hated by the German government. American affirmative action laws are policies projected by a government with a white majority in favor of minorities. Jews are affected only insofar as they are overwhelmingly white. And, of course, affirmative action has actually benefited Jews. Glazer points out that "(F)emales
were one of the groups designated as beneficiaries of affirmative action. Thus... one could argue that Jewish women were as much helped by affirmative action as Jewish men were hurt, or helped even more than Jewish men were hurt."

Arguments utilizing previous discrimination against Jews to oppose present proposals to redress past discrimination against America's ethnic minorities and women, are ideological self-deceptions, at best, and sophistries at worst. They are designed to put a pseudo-progressive gloss on efforts to preserve the economic status quo. And, as affirmative action in favor of women stands or falls with similar policies towards Blacks and other minorities, such specious reasoning is a razor against the interest of the majority of Jews, who, as with all other groups, are majority female.
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Lenni Brenner is the editor of 51 Documents: Zionist Collaboration with the Nazis and a contributor to The Politics of Anti-Semitism. He can be reached at BrennerL21@aol.com.