George Bush is in the White House. His road to power was paved with the racist disenfranchisement of African-American voters, deceit and outright fraud. He failed to win a majority of the votes. The Electoral College, a relic of slavery originally set up to strengthen the hand of southern plantation owners, gave Bush the presidency.

With anger and passion, protests hit the Democratic Convention in Los Angeles. For days, thousands of demonstrators put a people's agenda in the face of Democratic Party politicians.

On May 1, hundreds of millions of working people will stand up and say NO to exploitation, poverty, and oppression. In every country on the globe, women and men, employed and unemployed, will come together to celebrate May Day, International Workers Day.

In February of 1999, four New York City cops murdered an innocent, unarmed man, named Amadou Diallo. The cops shot him with 41 bullets in the entryway of his Bronx apartment building. One year later a jury in upstate New York acquitted those same cops of his murder.

Protesters who converged on Seattle for the meeting of the World Trade Organization did something really great, for the people of this country and peoples of the world.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson recently put Decatur, Illinois, back on the front line of struggle. In the early 1990s, Jesse rallied to support the heroic fight of locked-out Staley workers. Decatur had been war zone headquarters for the working class with big strikes by Caterpillar and Firestone workers. This time racism in education was the issue.

A shortage of affordable housing has turned the lives of millions into a nightmare. Emergency shelters are occupied by an army of the homeless. Many more people are living on the streets. In New York City, the wait for public housing is 8 years.

Across the U.S.A., the sharp rise in police attacks has caused an outpouring of rage against police departments and mayors. There have been ongoing protests in Chicago, following the huge protests and mass arrests in New York this past Spring.

With this issue of Fight Back!, we begin our second year of publication. In our very first issue, we said; “this paper exists to build the people's struggle.” We have done everything in our power to make that commitment a reality.

During the first week of May, hundreds of millions of working people around the world will celebrate May Day – the international holiday of the working class. It is a day for working people to say Enough is Enough!

A critical moment has arrived in the battle to stop the murder of a freedom fighter, Mumia Abu Jamal. Mumia sits on death row in Pennsylvania, convicted of a crime he never committed. The government wants to kill him, to silence a voice that thunders against injustice and speaks the language of liberation. Every effort must be made to build and attend the Millions for Mumia demonstration in Philadel-phia on April 24. Now is the time to stay the hand of the executioner and bring a new trial for Mumia Abu Jamal.

_Make The Rich Pay For Their Crisis! _

Nearly one third of the world has fallen into economic depression. Asian countries like Korea, once hailed by U.S. policy makers, face a rising tide of unemployment, as everything from steel mills to hospitals close down. The Japanese economy is shrinking as its government casts about for ways to prop up the country's banks. Now, the crisis is spreading to Latin America.

Estimados lectores,

¡Que viva la lucha popular!

El primero de mayo, el día internacional de los trabajadores, es un día de lucha. Alrededor del mundo, trabajadores marcharán en contra de la guerra imperialista, para defender los derechos de los inmigrantes en su lucha para proteger sus trabajos y comunidades. Aquí en los Estados Unidos, el 1ro de mayo renació cuando millones de chicanos, mexicanos y centroamericanos junto a otros inmigrantes y sus aliados, llenaron las calles para exigir la legalización, un fin de las redadas y deportaciones y el paro de la militarización de la frontera.

Hace tres años un caso llegó a la corte del Tercer Circuito en Pensilvania. Unos policías que tenían autorización legal para buscar a un hombre acusado de tráfico de drogas, decidieron buscar más allá de lo permitido, y desnudaron a una niña de 10 años para registrarla. Todos los jueces que revisaron el caso dijeron que la policía actuó ilegalmente en el caso, excepto uno, Samuel Alito. Desde su punto de vista, la policía actuó bien, y ahora Bush quiere poner a Alito en la Corte Suprema

Three years ago a case came before the Third Circuit court in Pennsylvania. Cops with a warrant to search a man accused of drug dealing decided to do some extra looking around, so they strip-searched a ten-year-old girl. Every judge who looked at the case said the cops were out of line. Except one. Samuel Alito. As he saw it, the police did the right thing. Now Bush wants him on the Supreme Court.

Mientras los medios capitalistas halagan a Ronald Reagan por haber “restaurado la confianza a América,” milones de estadounidenses y milones más en el resto del mundo han sido forzados  a enfrentar la pobreza y guerra como resultado de las políticas de Reagan.

While the corporate-controlled media is singing praises of Ronald Reagan for “restoring confidence to America,” millions of Americans and millions more around the world have been forced into poverty and war as a result of his policies.

¡Alto a las guerras dentro y fuera de los Estados Unidos!

George Bush tiene que ser removido de la Casa Blanca. Él miente, roba, y hace trampa. En Irak y Afganistán, Bush mata.

Stop the War at Home and Abroad!

George Bush needs to be removed from office. He lies, he cheats and he steals. In Iraq and Afghanistan, Bush kills.