File spoon-archives/marxism-general.archive/marxism-general_1997/marxism-general.9712, message 52


Subject: M-G: Fw: AGITPROP NEWS_12.6.97
From: Labor Art and Mural Project <lamp-AT-igc.apc.org>
Date: Sat, 06 Dec 1997 07:29:25 -0800 (PST)




Forwarded by Liam R.Flynn <trinity-AT-hot-shot.com>
---------------- Original message follows ----------------
 From: Labor Art and Mural Project <lamp-AT-igc.apc.org>

 Date: Sat, 06 Dec 1997 07:29:25 -0800 (PST)
 Subject: AGITPROP NEWS_12.6.97
--

Please post & distribute:


LaBOR aRT & MuRAL PRoJECT
AGITPROP NEWS
12.6.97


In this issue:

1. The Resurrection of Wesley Everest
2.  Mama Dont Allow No Cuban Music Playin Round Here
3.  Cuban Movies
4.  Bolshevism
5.  Carl Albert Walters Query
6.  Pillaged Lives CD
7.  Safe Jobs, Safe Communities Poster
8.  Conversian Charts
9.  Disorderly Conduct
10. Human Rights and Labor Solidarity Conference
11. Common Threads- Hidden Labor
12. Israeli General Strike
13. Marx Library
14. Gorbachov & Pizza Hut


_____________________________________________________________


1. The Resurrection of Wesley Everest



Join activists from the northwest in dedicating the new Mike Alewitz mural
in Centralia Washington, where IWW organizer Wesley Everest was lynched in
1919.

Saturday, Dec. 13th

10:00am:  Tours of Wobbly War sites begin in front of Centralia Square.

1:00pm:  Dedication of mural

Workshops:  2:30-4:30 -location will be announced at the dedication

Workshops:

1.  Rights of immigrant workers
2.  Organizing in Centralia
3.  IWW workshop
4.  AgitProp Art and the Labor Movement

5:00pm:  Reception at the Carpenters Hall, 417 North Pearl St.
        Refreshments and Music

Discount tickets are available on Amtrak, roundtrip from Seattle to
Centralia.  If Seattle-based folks are interested they should call Rita
Shaw of the Labor Party -AT- 206-282-6659


_______________________________________________________________________


2.  Mama Dont Allow No Cuban Music Playin Round Here



US AUTHORITIES DENY VISA TO CUBAN MUSICAL GROUP

San Juan, November 25 (RHC)-- The US government has denied
entry visas to the Cuban salsa band "Juan Carlos y Su Dan
Den", that was scheduled to arrive in Puerto Rico Monday.
The office of producer Jerry Masucci said that the visas
were denied on the claim that the Cuban musical group
would be making a commercial rather than a cultural tour
of the Caribbean island, which violates Washington's more
than 35 year blockade against Cuba.

As Puerto Rico is a commonwealth of the United States, it
cannot authorize the entrance of foreigners into its
territory without the US State Department's permission.

The Cuban salsa band was scheduled to perform in popular
concerts and its agenda included a series of encounters
with the Puerto Rican press to promote its new CD "Mi
Cuerpo" or My Body. Juan Carlos y Su Dan Den is
represented by Nueva Fania Records and its productions
distributed by Sony Discos Internacional. The group which
was set up in 1988 in Bejucal outside of Havana, has
accompanied several international salsa bands and singers
including Oscar de Leon from Venezuela, La Sonora Poncena
and Cheo Feliciano from Puerto Rico and the Grupo Niche
>from Colombia.


        [c] 1997. Radio Habana Cuba
          All rights reserved


____________________________________________________________



3.  THREE CUBAN FEATURE LENGTH FICTION FILMS WILL BE SCREENED
        AT LATIN AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL




Havana, December 4(RHC)-- During the most difficult years
of Cuba's economic crisis, known here as the "special
period", rumour abounded that the island's International
Festival of New Latin American Film would be cancelled.
Though the lavish parties ended, and some year's Cuba had
no entries in the competetion, the Festival continued and
continues. And this year, as YF reports, Cuba has three
feature length fiction films in competion:

"Love, tenderness, fantasy, seduction, nostalgia and humor
are among the themes touched upon by the 58 Cuban movies,
documentaries, short subjects and videos in competetion in
this year's film festival. In the feature length fiction
category are: "Vertical Love", by Arturo Sotto, "Kleines
tropicana" by veteran filmmaker Daniel Diaz Torres and
"Sapphires, Blue Madness" by Manuel Herrera. "Vertical
Love" is a passionate and surreal love story, narrated in
a sometimes comical, sometimes sensual way. Among the
film's many actors are Jorge Perugorria, of Strawberry and
Chocolate, Silvia Aguila, Manuel Porto, Aramis Delgado and
Paula Ali.

"Kleines tropicana" is a Cuban production with the
colaboration of the German, Hispanic BMG company.  The
film, a dective movie, is directed by Daniel Diaz Torres
who is known for his  movies, "Jibaro" and "The Other
Woman". It is based on real events and takes place in
Havana of today. "Sapphires, Blue Madness" focuses on a
group of people in Havana of the l960's. The cast includes
Luis Alberto Garcia, Nelson Jimenez and Barbaro Marin. In
the documentary category is "Sometimes we meet", by Ramon
Estevanell, "Africa Story" by Rebeca Chavez and "Cuban
Mass by Idelfonso Ramos". These are just a few of the
island's 58 entries in this year`s edition of the
Festival.


================================================================  NY Transfer News Collective   *   A Service of Blythe Systems
           Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us
              339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012
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================================================================||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
||||     ***Cuba Information Access ***
||||  The current events in La Republica de Cuba, from the C.I.A.
||||  Where else are you going to get it ?
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||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||


__________________________________________________________________


4.  Bolshevism



"Bolshevism is knocking at our gates, we can't afford to let
  it in....We must keep America whole and safe and unspoiled.
  We must keep the worker away from red literature and red
  ruses; we must see that his mind remains healthy."
                                          --Al Capone


tristan-AT-iww.org


____________________________________________________________



5.  Carl Albert Walters Query


>From: lastmarx-AT-worldnet.att.net
To: "Labor Art & Mural Project" <lamp-AT-igc.apc.org>

Does your project have any info on Carl Albert
Walters(1885-1955), painter and ceramic artist? During his time in Portland
(1912-19) he was friend of John Reed and CES Wood and introduced Reed to
Louise Bryant. His work is in most major museums and his wife Helen was one
of the witnesses in Beatty's "Reds." I've been doing research on his
Portland years and desperately seek reproductions of his paintings.

Regards, Mike Munk


______________________________________________________________




6.  PILLAGED LIVES : THIRD WORLD DEBT & GLOBAL INSTITUTIONS


Montreal November 12,  1997


The total debt of Third World to rich countries is over two
trillion dollars. Why is the huge discrepancy in wealth between the
rich and poor nations increasing?  What are the causes of poverty
and even misery in the Third World?  The Social Justice Committee
of Montreal has been helping people understand the roots of this
poverty, as well as possible solutions, for the past twenty five
years.

Now our organization, in partnership with Concordia University, has
developed an exhaustive CD ROM program that explores the links
among debt, communities, environment and global institutions. This
program provides an accessible and comprehensive overview of the
Third World debt problem: its origins, evolution, and the
devastating impact it has on so many lives. It includes
easy-to-understand narration, stunning images, music, in-depth
cases studies, background documents and an action section.

This unique educational and informative guide is currently
available at an affordable price of twenty five dollars ($25.00).
Your support of this product helps us in continuing our task of
education and advocacy.

Cheque and credit card purchases can be made, by contacting the
Social Justice Committee of Montreal at 1857 de Maisonneuve West,
Montreal Quebec. H3H 1J9

E-mail sjc-AT-web.net     Tel: (514) 933 6797      Fax (514) 933 9517

Thank you very much for your support.

*****************************************************************

Please send me _______ copies of the CD ROM.

___ I am enclosing a money order, or cheque, for $________ payable
to Social Justice Committee of Montreal, or

___  I will pay by Visa or Mastercard

My credit card number is ________________________________

Expiry date__________

Signature_________________________


     ****** A-Infos News Service *****
  News about and of interest to anarchists


______________________________________________________________



7.  Safe Jobs, Safe Communities Poster



Support a healthy environment for workers and communities and get a
striking poster to share the message!

The Occupational Health & Safety Section of the American Public
Health Association will acknowledge tax-deductible donations of $12.00
or more to its Scholarship Fund  with  a three-color 17x24" poster which
features an original photograph by photojournalist Earl Dotter and
design/production by Lincoln Cushing, printed by Inkworks Press.

The Scholarship fund will help enable students and workers to participate
in annual public health meetings.  The poster calls for: Safe Jobs!
Safe Communities! for our brothers, our sisters, our children.

Checks should be made out to:
American Public Health Association
With "OH&S Fund" in note field

Send checks to:
Janie Gordon
405 W. Redwood, 2nd Fl.
Baltimore, Md. 21201

jgordon-AT-umppa1.ab.umd.edu

You'll receive your poster packaged in a cardboard mailing tube, ready
to hang!
Inkworks Press - worker-owned and operated since 1974


_____________________________________________________________


8.  Conversian Charts



          10**12 Microphones = 1 Megaphone
             10**6 bicycles = 2 megacycles
             500 millinaries = 1 seminary
    2000 mockingbirds = two kilomockingbirds
                10 cards = 1 decacards
              1/2 lavatory = 1 demijohn
               10**-6 fish = 1 microfiche
       453.6 graham crackers = 1 pound cake
               10**12 pins = 1 terrapin
               10**21 picolos = 1 gigolo
              10 rations = 1 decoration
               100 rations = 1 C-ration
              10 millipedes = 1 centipede
              3 1/3 tridents = 1 decadent
               5 holocausts = 1 Pentacost
    10 monologues = 5 dialogues = 1 decalogue
                2 monograms = 1 diagram
               8 nickles = 2 paradigms
              2 snake eyes = 1 paradise
                 2 wharves = 1 paradox


Gag-O-Mactic Joke Server 2.0


___________________________________________________________



9.  Disorderly Conduct


 DISORDERLY CONDUCT:
        ARE THE POLICE KILLING US?
        (30 minutes,VHS, $25)

*Finalist, South Bronx Film & Video Festival, 1997*

In contrast to the prevailing attitudes toward
law enforcement by the media, which often condone
police behavior, DISORDERLY CONDUCT provides a
unique look at the violence and racism of police
culture.  Through the use of interviews, archival
footage and recent news reports, this sobering,
cutting-edge documentary gives a voice to the
victims of police abuse.  The documentary includes
a detailed report of the shocking case of Abner
Louima, who was tortured and beaten by officers
of the 70th Precinct in Brooklyn, NY.

Some of the community activists and civic leaders
who appear in DISORDERLY CONDUCT:  former NYC Mayor
David Dinkins, Gerald LeMelle of Amnesty International,
Richie Perez of the National Congress for Puerto
Rican Rights, Roger Wareham and Viola Plummer of
the December 12th Movement, and Ron Hampton of
the National Black Police Association.

Some of the victims who appear in DISORDERLY
CONDUCT:  Vanessa Maldonado, whose finance Charles
Campbell was murdered by an off-duty NYPD cop
over a parking space, Steven Resto, who was choked
by Office Francis Livoti two years before Anthony
Baez, and Jackie Casto, who was arrested, detained,
and strip-searched after a routine traffic stop.

TO ORDER:

Call 1 800 764-0235

Make checks payable to:  David A. Love,
135-46 227th Street, laurelton, NY  11413-2438
Richie Perez
rperez-AT-boricuanet.org
212 614-5355


________________________________________________________________




10. Human Rights and Labor Solidarity Conference




>Human Rights and Labor Solidarity:
>Working in the Pacific Rim.
>
>On January 29-30, 1998, UC Berkeley's Center for Labor Research and
>Education will host its second annual global conference entitled:  "Human
>Rights and Labor Solidarity:  Working in the Pacific Rim."
>
>       The conference will bring together labor leaders from the US, Thailand,
>Burma, South Korea, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand with human rights
>activists and academics to discuss the causes, problems and solutions of
>worker repression in the Pacific Rim.
>
>       The conference plenary sessions will focus on Globalization And The
>Effects
>Of Worker And Capital Migration.  Invited speakers include William Greider,
>author of One World Ready or Not, Barbara Shailor, International Affairs
>Director for the AFL-CIO and Sidney Jones, Executive Director of Asia Watch.
>Other conference sessions will explore  issues of Child Labor And Women
>(with a representative from a women's union in Thailand); Repression Of
>Trade Unionists (with Rekson Silaban, International Affairs Director for the
>Indonesian Prosperity Trade Union ) and The Rise of Independent Unions (With
>Young-Kil Kwon, Leader of the Korean Congress of Trade Unions).  The Closing
>plenary sessions will look at some Labor Solidarity Campaigns and the
>possibility for inter-union concerted bargaining and political activity.
>Examples will include representatives the NIKE and New Otani campaigns, the
>SBSI campaign in Indonesia and the work of the KCTU to build an opposition
>movement to the South Korean government.
>
>       This two-day meeting is an opportunity for human rights activists, labor
>leaders, union members and academics to work together on new theoretical
>approaches to globalization and also to work on real strategies for
>addressing human rights and labor issues in the global economy.
>
>       The conference will cost $25 for two days  ($10 for students).  The
>conference will be held at the International House on the University of
>California at Berkeley campus.   For a conference registration form, contact
>the Labor Center at 510-642-0323.
>
>Co-sponsored by: Center for South East Asian Studies, Center for Korean
>Studies, Institute of Industrial Relations, UCB, Labor Center UCLA , Labour
>Market and Regional Studies Center,  International Business Institute,
>University of Woolongong.
>
>****************************************************************************
>Jacob A. Ely
>Center for Labor Research and Education
>University of California, Berkeley
>Office: 510-642-0323
>Fax: 510-642-6432
>http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~iir/clre/clre.html
>****************************************************************************



_________________________________________________________________



11. Common Threads- Hidden Labor



Hello all,

I'm a member of Common Threads, a group of women in the L.A. area who have
been supporting UNITE and local garment workers in their efforts to better
working conditions through unionization over the past three years. Edna
Bonacich has talked about our work previously and how some of our more
attention-getting efforts have been cultural/arts related (we got sued by
GUESS the clothing manufacturer for a poetry reading supporting garment
workers fired by GUESS contractors for trying to organize).

On May 4 the Common Threads Artists opened a public art installation in nine
storefront windows of a former department store in downtown L.A. about the
history of L.A.'s garment workers.  While wandering around the web the other
day, I came across that project, called "Hidden Labor: Uncovering L.A.'s
Garment Industry," on USC's site (their downtown L.A. public art tour)! So
if you are interested you can see it at:
www.usc.edu/Library/Ref/LA/PubArt/Downtown/Hidden Labor.

The web site has photos, paragraphs that contextualize each window and the
text from a timeline (that runs across the bottom of the entire
installation) that's an overview of garment workers' efforts at organizing,
mainly in L.A., along with some information about the development of the
industry nationally. The exhibition is based on research and interviews with
dozens of current and retired garment workers. It was blasted by many of the
same garment industry officials who tried to shut down the Smithsonian's
upcoming exhibition on sweatshops. But the funders (the public art program
of  the Community Redevelopment Agency) supported the project as an
important piece of local history (we agree). The installation is up through
May 1, 1998 - on 7th Street between Hope and Grand in downtown L.A. -
visible 24 hours a day. Much of it is in both Spanish and English. We're
glad to give "walking tours" to groups, classes, etc.

 We also have the script for a street theater "fashion show," which you are
welcome to use - it's perfect for the holiday shopping season. I'd be glad
to pass it on.

Keep up all the great work everyone,
Judy Branfman
jbranfman-AT-loop.com


____________________________________________________________


12. Israeli General Strike


ICEM UPDATE

No. 74/1997

4 December 1997

The following is from the International Federation of Chemical, Energy,
Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM):

ISRAEL: MINISTER'S INSULTS SPARK GENERAL STRIKE

Some 700,000 Israeli workers walked off the job yesterday (3 December) in a
general strike that will continue "until further notice", the General
Federation of Labour in Israel (Histadrut) reports. Among the wide range of
sectors hit by the strike are oil refineries, gas companies and the Israel
Electric Company.

Histadrut had been in lengthy negotiations with the Ministry of Finance
over Israeli government plans for major privatisations and pension scheme
cuts. The talks ceased on Monday, Histadrut says, when "the Minister of
Finance described workers as 'enemies of the state' and 'ticking bombs'.
These expressions incensed the workers and their representatives and
resulted in the declaration of an immedi
ate, country-wide general strike."

The indefinite strike is also to mark "opposition to the government's
budget proposals, which will put all the burden of the economic moves on
the shoulders of the poor and the workers." Histadrut says public reaction
to the strike has been "very positive."

At the global level, Histadrut is affiliated to the 20-million-strong
International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers'
Unions (ICEM).

_________________


Individual ICEM UPDATE items can be supplied in other languages on request.

Our print magazines ICEM INFO and ICEM GLOBAL are available in Arabic,
English,
French, German, Russian, Scandinavian and Spanish.

Visit our World Wide Web site at http://www.icem.org/


______________________________________________________________


13. Marx Library

 Tish Newland, the librarian at the Marx Memorial Library in London,
has just sent me a letter that the library  was just awarded an
grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund (maybe one of the British
susbcribers can explain exactly what this is as I can't other than it
is money from the Lottery).    The grant is =A3359,00  to be matched by
=A3119,000 raised by the Library.  This is extremely good news as these
incredible valuable collections will now be better preserved and
available to researchers.  Some of the materials date back to
Cromwell, I believe they have an original of the People's Charter,
several items and artifacts from William Morris...

 According to the library's press release the money will be used for
the following purposes:

catalogue the 150,000 books, pamphlets and periodiclas and put it on
the Internet

protect and conserve the thousands of rare documents by installing
new heating and colling systems

improve book storage conditions by installing new shelving

protect a site of immense historical significance

"The grant recognizes that the Library collection reflects the
valuable historic building in which it is housed.  The house on
Clerkenwell Green was built in 1737 and is now the oldest house in
this part of London.  It ws one of the first charity schools.
Lenin's newspaper Iskra was edited and printed here. Karl marx's
daughter, Eloeanor, and William Morris addressed crowds on
Clerkenwell Green from its its windows.  Marx's own International
Working Men's Association (the First International) had committee
meetings in what is now a front room of the Library."

 I am quite excited at the prospect of the materials being made
available by this project.  The collections at the library are indeed
of immense historical importance and of an international scope.  But
the library has struggled along for years on the contributions of its
members.


Andrew H. Lee
andrew.lee-AT-nyu.edu


_____________________________________________________________




14.  Former Soviet Premier Lends Pizza Hut His Image


By ALESSANDRA STANLEY




MOSCOW -- The last leader of the Soviet Union was unable to prevent the
collapse of communism. So now he has conspicuously taken his place on the
winning side.

Mikhail Gorbachev, 66, has shot a commercial endorsement for Pizza Hut.

Gorbachev agreed to sit down at a table with his granddaughter in the Moscow
outlet of Pizza Hut and pay tribute to capitalism and its greasiest
offshoot: American fast food.

Gorbachev said he was not exactly sure how much he was being paid, but some
reports indicate his fee is close to $1 million.

Explaining that he badly needed the money to finance his foundation, a
research institute that bears his name, Gorbachev said in an interview
Tuesday that he had declined many other offers to endorse products but made
an exception for Pizza Hut.

"I thought that it is a people's matter -- food," he said. "This is why if
my name works for the benefit of consumers, to hell with it -- I can risk it."

The script is deferential; indeed, it could be viewed as Gorbachev's
ultimate fantasy. He arrives by limousine at a Pizza Hut and some patrons
notice him. An older man grumbles, "Because of him, we have economic
confusion." A younger man disagrees, saying, "Because of him we have
opportunity."

Patrons continue to argue, until an older woman pipes up, "Because of him we
have things like Pizza Hut." The patrons rise and give a standing ovation to
their former leader, holding pizza slices aloft in tribute.

Gorbachev responds with a dignified smile. He does not actually eat a slice
of pizza, but sips coffee as he watches his granddaughter dig in happily.

Though the ad was shot in Moscow last Thursday, there are no plans to
broadcast it in Russia. Esteemed in the West as the statesman who ended the
Cold War, Gorbachev is extremely unpopular in Russia, where he is blamed for
allowing the Soviet Union to fall apart and for not having pushed reform of
the command economy far enough. When he ran for the presidency last year --
his first campaign for public office -- he won less than 1 percent of the
vote.


(Excerpts)


________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

ARTISTS AND WORKERS OF THE WORLD UNITE...
YOU HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE BUT BAD TASTE!

LaBOR aRT & MuRAL PRoJECT
Labor Education Center
Rutgers University
Ryders Lane & Clifton Avenue
New Brunswick, NJ  08903

Phone: 732-220-1472   -   Fax: 732-296-1325

Email: lamp-AT-igc.apc.org   -   Website: http://www.igc.apc.org/laborart

Subscribe to AGITPROP NEWS at this address

Spanning the Globe to: ORGANIZE  -  AGITATE  -  EDUCATE  -  INSPIRE

Mike Alewitz, Artistic Director



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