Commentary

East Los Angeles, CA – The campaign to defeat Proposition 21, the war on youth ballot initiative, climaxed with a statewide week of rage, and protests led by young people. Thousands of L.A. youth protested by walking out of school, and marching through the middle of East Los Angeles, chanting, “Schools not Jails!”

Fight Back News Service is reprinting the following article on the FBI murder of Puerto Rican freedom fighter Filiberto Ojeda Ríos. A longer version of this article first appeared in Red Banner - a journal for left, progressive and socialist students at the University of North Carolina, Asheville.

FARC-EP Spokesperson

I want to say to the people of the U.S. that the Colombian people admire and respect your efforts.

The United Parcel Service (UPS) strike in 1997 was the most important labor victory in recent years. It was fought under the reform leadership of then-Teamsters president, Ron Carey, and was won due to the courage and determination of UPS workers.

The Bush administration has changed its strategy in Iraq. Previously the occupation relied on Kurdish and Shiite militias to keep a grip. Now it has added Sunni militias called ‘Awakening Councils’ (al-Sahwa) and ‘Concerned Local Citizens’ (CLCs) to the mix. It is a fateful step.

Israeli right-winger Benjamin Netanyahu, who stated that Israel did not “go far enough” in its 22-day invasion and massacre of 1400 Palestinians in Gaza earlier this year and who has never accepted even the possibility of an independent state for the Palestinians, is now the new prime minister. He was sworn in on April 1, after being asked in February by President Shimon Peres to form a coalition government.

Recently the media has been abuzz with talk of the possible ‘nationalization’ of ailing big banks such as Citigroup. Both Democrat and Republican senators, as well as the former chair of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan, have raised the possibility of a temporary ‘nationalization’ or government takeover of big banks.

Yes, I haven’t heard, much less said “capitalist pig” for more than 30 years. But I couldn’t help thinking it when I heard that Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch (three former Wall Street investment banks; Merrill Lynch has been taken over by Bank of America) are planning to pay $20 billion in bonuses. To make matters worse, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are receiving $10 billion each in bank bailout money, while Bank of America will receive $25 billion.

Keep the heat on Congress!

Commentary by the editor of Fight Back!