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institutions more money will not create a single job.” He HARTFORD, Conn.—From Oct. 18 to Oct. 26, Chris pointed out that the TARP money Larson voted in was Hutchinson, Socialist Action congressional candidate used by many companies to eliminate jobs, not save for Connecticut’s 1st District, joined in four debates them. With public money GM has even forced workers Jamal, with Philadelphia MOVE activist Ramona Africa. with three other contenders for the seat: fourth-ranking House Democrat John Larson; Republican Ann Brickley; Hutchinson argued that, since working people have that their lives won’t be changed by the victor of the Nov. and Green Party candidate Ken Krayeske. The debates already paid for the largest banks and corporations sev- 2 election one way or the other, and that the real queswere opportunities to present working-class politics eral times over, we should place these companies under tion remains whether working people will organize into a broader public while exposing the politics of the public ownership and direct investment toward human dependently to fight back. As a start, Hutchinson urged two corporate parties. Hutchinson made an impact that needs instead of profit. “Working people create all the attendees to join the march against the wars on April 9 went far beyond the normal electoral sideshow, and was wealth in the first place. We should decide how it’s used.” in New York and to come to the first regional organizing In Hartford and New Hartford, Hutchinson pointed to A look at the politics of the debates goes a long way to the power of working people: “In 44 days workers of the At every debate Chris was approached with interest dispel the illusion that there are significant political dif- tiny island nation Guadalupe were able to do what Lar- and enthusiasm in the politics he expressed. In the two ferences between the two big business parties. Repub- son has not done in his entire 12 years in office. They venues where the audience participated, he won a fair lican Brickley constantly defended the sanctity of the took to the streets and organized a 44-day-long general share of affirmation with applause and shouts, even free market and private enterprise—which keep wealth strike. They won a moratorium on home foreclosures, though the rooms were largely packed with Brickley and in the hands of a tiny minority. Meanwhile, Democrat an emergency jobs program to provide 8000 young peo- Larson supporters. In Hartford Chris found his warmLarson made a point to defend the government bailouts ple with employment, and wage increases across the est reception, receiving a number of ovations. On at least board. This victory inspired workers in France to begin one question the audience gave Hutchinson passionate the struggle they’re waging now against raising the resion of labor. Big business demands a “free market,” but For more coverage and video of these debates, go to it also requires government intervention like the recent In this vein Hutchinson consistently told his audience www.votesocialistaction.org. n Socialist Action november 2010 3 well received by audiences. that kept the banks and big corporations afloat. In this, the Republican and Democrat employed a divi... Antiwar (continued from page 1: “Nov. 6 conference to launch mass antiwar actions”) provocateurs, and lured into saying or doing something that allows the government to claim that they could become a “terrorist” threat. Successful preemptive prosecutions and the incarceration of hundreds of Muslim-Americans in 23hour lockdown units called Communication Management Units, or CMUs, are then used to justify U.S. wars in the Middle East and South Asia, as well as increasingly Orwellian restrictions on civil liberties.

Muslim Peace Coalition spokespeople have been joined in UNAC activities by the women of Desis Rising Up and Moving (DRUM). This group, founded to empower low-wage South Asian immigrants, has been targeted by ICE and Homeland Security for deportation and preemptive prosecution. DRUM activists have been combining the fights against raids, Islamophobia, and social service cuts since before the invasion of Iraq began. In a certain sense, they embody the character of a new antiwar movement in formation, a movement in which activists feel the multipronged impact of the war and economic crisis as low-income workers, as immigrants, as people of color, and as those most vulnerable to the wrenching cuts in social services expected to be proposed in December by Obama’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility.

DRUM’s decision to build the Nov. 6 meeting in New York has the potential to strengthen the peace movement immensely. DRUM activists have encouraged the participation of youth from Vamos Unidos, a group that has been prominent in the fight of Latino youth in and new hires to take a 50% pay cut. tirement age.”

New York City against the DREAM ACT, a piece of legislation that purports to trade permanent residency for military service.

These forces promise to animate the movement to bring the troops and war dollars home now in truly new ways. In that task they will be working together with speakers at the Nov. 6 conference in New York who include Kathy Kelly of the Center for Creative Nonviolence, Mark Johnson of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, Transport Workers Union leader Marvin Holland, Larry Hamm of the Peoples Organization for Progress, Margaret Kimberley of the Black Agenda Report, Nada Khader of Wespac, Pardiss Kebriaei of the Center for Constitutional Rights, Adaner Usmani of Action for a Progressive Pakistan, Teresa multi-trillion-dollar bailouts.

Larson’s major promises to working people in Connecticut revolve around his ability to cut deals in Congress and the corporate world (especially those in the military industry) to pull some investment into the state. Larson’s fundamental message is, “Stick with me, and I’ll make sure you get bigger crumbs than anyone else.”

Hutchinson often undercut this discourse, and changed the terms of the debate. An article in the Bristol Press and New Britain Herald on the first debate in West Hartford even claimed that Hutchinson and Green candidate Krayeske “stole the show.”

Hutchinson pointed to the failures of the profit motive itself: “Non-financial companies now sit on $1.8 trillion in cash, roughly one-quarter more than at the beginning of the recession. Giving the wealthy and their meeting on Nov. 6.

Jacquelyn Martin / AP Gutierrez of the May 1 Coalition, Maggie Zhou of the Massachusetts Coalition for Healthy Communities, Marty Nathan of Northampton Bring Our War Dollars Home, Rachel Smolker of the Biofuel Watch/Energy Justice Network, Steff Yorek of Stop FBI Raids, and many more. Antiwar organizers are finding that the demands approved by the Albany UNAC conference in July are important tools in attracting new forces: Bring the Troops, Mercenaries, and War Dollars Home Now from Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. No War or Sanctions on Iran! Trillions for Jobs and Education, Not Wars and Bank Bailouts! No to the Racist Attacks on Muslims, Immigrants, and Communities of Color! Civil Liberties for All! End U.S. Aid to Israel! End U.S. Aid to the Israeli Occupation of Palestine! (Above) Chris Hutchinson at a rally for Mumia Abuapplause while greeting Larson with dead silence.

The latter demands have had particular resonance in the San Francisco Bay Area, where UNAC, along with the UC Berkeley Students for Justice in Palestine, the UCB Muslim Student Association, and the Middle East Children’s Alliance, is hosting a Nov. 30 teach-in at UC Berkeley to educate around the interconnected themes of the war, Islamophobia, and the fight for justice for the Palestinian people. The students who led the Berkeley struggle to force the university to divest, whose group is the largest activist group on campus, have voted to build the UNAC-initiated teach-in as part of their struggle to bring the issue of Palestine into the mainstream of the U.S. antiwar movement.

The vote to include a strong Palestine demand at the Albany conference won the approval of allies from the African American community as well. Glen Ford of Black Agenda Report described the Albany conference in July as the birth of an antiwar movement that “won’t cave to Obama or Israel.” In an article about this year’s “Black is Back” Nov. 13 march on the White House to demand an end to U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and an end to U.S. military aid to Africa, Ford noted approvingly that in the past year the BiB coalition had built “relations of solidarity and mutual respect with nonBlack strugglers for social justice and peace.”

Christine Gauvreau, a member of the UNAC Coordinating Committee, was recently invited to speak on the topic, “We Demand Butter, Not Guns!” at the annual Harlem Tenants Council Conference, and shared the stage with Mark Torres of the Coalition to Save Public Education, Dr. Matthew Hurley from the physician’s union at Harlem Hospital, (continued on page 5, in “U.S. stumbling to disaster in Afghanistan”)