Appropriating heroes: Mandela

·                                 Written by  Ken Fuller 

·                                 Tuesday, 08 July 2014 00:00

·                                 Daily Tribune

When he died last December, in the mainstream media there was wall-to-wall praise for Nelson Mandela the “statesman.” British PM David Cameron, for example, seemed to have forgotten that his own party (and its then leader Margaret Thatcher) had labeled the African National Congress (ANC) a “terrorist organization;” indeed, a younger Cameron had himself supported South Africa’s apartheid regime. And we were subjected to a string of homespun homilies from Bill Clinton, who failed to explain — the tame media never asked him to — why Mandela’s name was not removed from the US “terrorist” list during his presidency.

This amounted to an attempt to appropriate a national liberation hero by people who had never supported that struggle.

In praising Mandela, the obituary-writers in the conservative press distorted both history and the meaning of the man’s life. Choosing its words carefully, The Economist rated him as the “most inspirational” statesman of the 20th century for “many people, in many lands.” While conceding that he “made some common cause” with the South African Communist Party (SACP), the journal considered that “his writings were then full of sub-Marxist drivel.” Thus, the man who entered prison in 1962 was hardly deserving of praise, whereas it was heaped upon the man who emerged in 1990, as if some dramatic transformation had occurred on Robben Island.

This left The Economist unable to explain Mandela’s continuing warmth toward countries like Cuba, Libya and China, except by reason that they had supported him and the anti-apartheid struggle. Downplaying Mandela’s role in the overthrow of apartheid (and of course that of Cuba is simply ignored), the magazine considers that his “greater achievement was to see the need for reconciliation, to forswear retribution and then to act as midwife to a new, democratic South Africa, built on the rule of law.”

The SACP, obviously alert to this international attempt at hero-appropriation, stated after his death that Mandela, far from merely making “some common cause” with the party, had in fact been a member of its central committee at the time of his arrest. Following his release from prison, Mandela made no attempt to distance himself from the SACP, speaking to an audience of 50,000 at its re-launch in late July 1990.
In London in 2003, he unveiled a plaque commemorating Joe Slovo, the late general secretary of the SACP, and his wife Ruth First. Addressing the assembled crowd, Mandela made no secret of the fact that the Slovos had been communists; he went on to praise the SACP for its organizational skills and solidarity.

While the mainstream media ignored the role of Cuba in the liberation of southern Africa, Mandela was fulsome in his praise and gratitude. In 1975, after South African forces invaded Angola in support of the US-backed UNITA, the MPLA government sought Cuban assistance. Thousands of Cuban troops — all of them volunteers — arrived to preserve the independence Angola had just achieved from Portugal, and within months the South African forces were chased into Namibia, then a South African “protectorate.”

However, UNITA incursions into Angola continued and when in 1987 Angolan government forces moved south to crush the pro-Western rebels, the South Africans invaded once more to support their UNITA allies, and by early 1988 it seemed that they might inflict a major defeat on the Angolan army, but in March that year Cuban troops once more arrived and saved the day.

Apologists for the apartheid regime still claim that their troops won the battle of Cuito Cunavale; they may well have suffered less casualties than the Angolans and their Cuban allies, but the fact of the matter is that the engagement sealed the fate of the regime, which was forced to concede independence to Namibia in March 1990 and the following year to repeal the apartheid laws, leading to the first free elections in 1994 at which Mandela was elected president.

Shortly after his election, Mandela visited Cuba, telling his hosts that Cuito Cunavale “destroyed the myth of the invincibility of the white oppressor. The defeat of the apartheid army served as an inspiration to the struggling people of South Africa. Without the defeat of Cuito Cuanavale our organizations would not have been legalized. The defeat of the racist army in Cuito Cuanavale made it possible for me to be here with you today. Cuito Cuanavale marks the divide in the struggle for the liberation of southern Africa. Cuito Cuanavale marked an important step in the struggle to free the continent and our country of the scourge of apartheid.”

Mandela also noted that Cuban assistance had not been merely military: “What other country,” he asked, “can show as much selflessness as Cuba has in its relations with the African continent? How many countries in the world have benefited from the assistance of Cuban health workers and educators? What country has ever asked for Cuban assistance and been denied it? How many countries threatened by imperialism or struggling for their national liberation have been able to count on the help and support of Cuba?”

He had little time for those who, like the Cuban émigrés in Miami, sought to persuade him to speak out against alleged human rights abuses in Cuba. “Who are they to call for the observance of human rights by Cuba? They kept quiet for 42 years when human rights were being attacked in South Africa. Who are they now to be so concerned about human rights? They are not concerned with the violence in which 10,000 of our people have been killed in South Africa. Who are they to teach us about human rights?”

Next week, we’ll look at another example of hero-appropriation, this time a little closer to home: Jose Rizal.

*           *           *

For those interested in all aspects of the South African liberation struggle, I recommend London Recruits (2012), edited by Ken Keable. This contains accounts by young white volunteers recruited by the African National Congress in London to undertake missions in South Africa. Fascinating.
 

Elmer Benson wrote an important article... it should be discussed and shared widely.

This is a very important article.

I am going to keep re-posting it from time to time.

I would encourage people to organize small discussion groups around this article, organize public forums and debates.


This article has never received the consideration due because Elmer Benson was one of Joe McCarthy's and Hubert Humphrey's primary targets.

Now is the time to discuss this article:


http://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/47/v47i04p154-161.pdf


Share it widely or with just a friend or two.


Print it off and circulate some copies.

Post it to bulletin boards.


This article is as timely, if not more so, than the day it was written.

"The GMA and GMOs" by Kenneth Fuller... corporations versus the people; corporate science versus science for the people.

The GMA and GMOs

·                                 Written by  Ken Fuller 

                               Tuesday, 01 July 2014 00:00

·                                 Daily Tribune

This column has recently made mention of the increasingly common practice by which corporations, sometimes aided by “free trade” agreements, sue governments that take decisions which, while they might serve the interests of the people of the country concerned, run counter to those of the corporate bottom line.

Well, there is now a further example, although the respondent in this case is not a country but a state: Vermont, the second least populous state in the USA. And what is Vermont’s crime? Earlier this year it passed a law which is not to the liking of Monsanto, the agriculture giant responsible for much of the world’s genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

Vermont has taken the position, which most people would find eminently reasonable, that if there is no scientific consensus concerning the safety of GMOs (the truth of the matter is that there have been no studies “proving” their safety apart from those funded by the corporations that produce them), then the consumer should at least be alerted to the fact that a product contains them. Products containing GMOs should, in short, be labeled.

In mid-June, a suit was filed against Vermont by a coalition consisting of the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA), the Snack Food Association, the International Dairy Foods Association and the National Association of Manufacturers. The first-named of these consists of over 300 of the world’s largest food manufacturers, including Monsanto, which threatened to sue as long ago as 2012, causing Vermont legislators to place the labeling measure on hold.

Monsanto is notoriously litigious, having filed almost 150 lawsuits between 1997 and 2010, many against independent farmers who made allegations against its GMO products.

It is not, however, that the Grocery Manufacturers Association is against labeling per se. Far from it, for in December last year the New York Times reported that the GMA had written to the Food and Drug Administration advising that it would be petitioning that body to rule that food containing GMOs should be labeled as “natural.” For the GMA, therefore, labels are okay as long as they lie.

The GMA argues in this case that the labeling of GMO products would be a “burden” for industry (a burden that suddenly vanishes, it would seem, if GMOs are labeled as “natural”), and that Vermont has usurped the powers of the federal government, which alone has responsibility for such regulation. The GMA is also promoting a congressional bill to this latter effect — a useful illustration of the nature of US “democracy” as recently discussed in this column.

The impact of this case will extend beyond Vermont, as several other states have said that they will follow suit — if Vermont survives the legal challenge. Connecticut already has a labeling law, but its implementation is conditional upon other states, with a total population of at least 20 million, enacting similar legislation. Likewise, implementation of the law in Maine is dependent upon five other states adopting the measure.

Such qualifications were inserted, says the Center for Food Safety’s lead attorney, because these states feared what Vermont now faces — “getting sued by Monsanto, the GMA, the biotech industry.”

Some states like Washington and California have already rejected labeling requirements. Did citizens in those states arrive at their decisions by exercises in Jeffersonian democracy, attending town meetings where arguments pro and con were advanced and the issue was soberly debated? Of course not. The industry giants spent at least $20 million in Washington state and $46 million in California to achieve those negative votes.

Some Filipino columnists have over the past year or so taken the side of the GMO corporations by presenting the conflict in this country as being one between “our farmers” and “our scientists” against the “powerful, European” campaigning organization Greenpeace. The truth, of course, is that Filipino scientists and farmers were involved in the case against the GMO trials at UP Los Baños, alongside the Filipino arm of Greenpeace. The foreign interest was represented by the GMO-producing corporations, often concealed within innocent-sounding research institutes.

To present the Filipino case as a David vs Goliath struggle in which Greenpeace takes the latter role is a ludicrous misrepresentation of the facts. The corporate interest plays the role of the giant in both the Philippines and Vermont, and in the latter case this is as clear as it can possibly be.


Vermont’s population in 2013 was 626,630, its total revenue $1.732 billion. Monsanto’s net sales in 2011 came to $11.82 billion. And that’s just Monsanto. Its power in this case is augmented by that of the other 300 members of the GMA (to name just a few: Dow, Mars, Kellogg, Proctor & Gamble, Hershey, Pepsico, Coca-Cola, Heinz, Unilever, Kraft, Campbell Soup) and those of the other three members of the coalition.

Last December, the Food and Drug Administration announced that there would be no labeling requirement for GMOs in this country as they were virtually no different from organic foods and were not cancer-causing, as “numerous tests” had demonstrated. The Court of Appeals in the Los Baños case took a different view — as have the 60 countries which have either banned GMOs outright or have a labeling requirement.

Had the decision been different (and, of course, it’s still possible for a more enlightened administration to reverse this one), those who attempt to conceal the role of corporate interests in the trialing and promotion of GMOs would have received an education as those interests would have targeted the Philippines just as they’re targeting Vermont. That being the case, it makes one wonder whether, considering this possibility, the FDA decided to play the role of Maine and Connecticut.

Anyone know how Minnesota Mayors voted on this? It says the vote was unanimous... why so little media coverage of this resolution?

Shouldn't this same kind of resolution be submitted to all political party conventions?

And what about state legislatures and members of Congress?

Has Barack Obama acknowledged receiving this resolution? If so, what is his response to it?

Anyone read anything about this in their local newspaper? Heard reports on the television or radio news?

Seen anything about this on labor websites and blogs?

How many peace organizations have disseminated this?

Alan L. Maki

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

There is only a small minority in Congress and other areas of government which thinks our nuclear "deterrent" is somehow necessary or valuable, instead of a threat to human civilization and all higher life forms.  It's time to get serious about nuclear disarmament, and for us, it starts at home - with Malmstrom AFB.  

Paul Stephens, CasCoGreens

U.S. Conference of Mayors Calls for Nuclear Disarmament

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The U.S. Conference of Mayors unanimously adopted this resolution at its 82nd annual meeting in Dallas, Texas, in June 2014.
Resolution No. 119: Calling for Constructive Good Faith U.S. Participation in International Nuclear Disarmament Forums


WHEREAS, Article VI of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), which entered into force in 1970, and is part of the supreme law of the land pursuant to Article VI of the U.S. Constitution, states: “Each of the Parties to the Treaty undertakes to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament”; and


WHEREAS, in 1996, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the judicial branch of the United Nations (UN) and the highest court in the world on questions of international law, issued an authoritative interpretation of Article VI, unanimously concluding: “There exists an obligation to pursue in good faith and bring to a conclusion negotiations leading to nuclear disarmament in all its aspects under strict and effective international control”; and


WHEREAS, forty-four years after the NPT entered into force, an estimated 16,400 nuclear weapons, most held by the U.S. and Russia, pose an intolerable threat to humanity, and there are no disarmament negotiations on the horizon; and


WHEREAS, the U.S. and the eight other nuclear weapon possessing states are investing an estimated $100 billion annually to maintain and modernize their nuclear arsenals while actively planning to deploy nuclear weapons for the foreseeable future; and


WHEREAS, the U.S.-Russian conflict over the Ukraine may lead to a new era of confrontation between nuclear-armed powers, and nuclear tensions in the Middle East, Southeast Asia and on the Korean peninsula remind us that the potential for nuclear war is ever present; and


WHEREAS, in December 2012, the UN General Assembly established a working group open to all member states (the “Open-Ended Working Group”) “to develop proposals to take forward multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations for the achievement and maintenance of a world without nuclear weapons,” and scheduled for September 26, 2013 the first-ever High-Level meeting of the UN General Assembly devoted to nuclear disarmament; and


WHEREAS, in December 2013, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution which: “Calls for the urgent commencement of negotiations, in the Conference on Disarmament, for the early conclusion of a comprehensive convention on nuclear weapons to prohibit their possession, development, production, acquisition, testing, stockpiling, transfer and use or threat of use, and to provide for their destruction;”…. “Decides to convene, no later than 2018, a United Nations high-level international conference on nuclear disarmament to  review the progress made in this regard;” and “Declares 26 September as the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons devoted to furthering this objective, including through enhancing public awareness and education about the threat posed to humanity by nuclear weapons and the necessity for their total elimination;” and


WHEREAS, delegations representing 146 States, the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Red Cross and Red Crescent movement and civil society organizations participated in the Second Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons held in Nayarit, Mexico, February 13-14, 2014, to discuss global and long-term consequences of any nuclear detonation, accidental or deliberate, including impacts on public health, humanitarian assistance, the economy, the environment, climate change, food security and risk management; and


WHEREAS, Juan Manuel Gómez Robledo, Mexico’s Vice Minister for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights, Chair of the Nayarit Conference, concluded: “The broad-based and comprehensive discussions on the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons should lead to the commitment of States and civil society to reach new international standards and norms, through a legally binding instrument … [The] time has come to initiate a diplomatic process conducive to this goal… compris[ing] a specific timeframe, the definition of the most appropriate fora, and a clear and substantive framework … The 70th anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki attacks is the appropriate milestone to achieve our goal”; and


WHEREAS, August 6 and 9, 2015 will mark the 70th anniversaries of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which killed more that 210,000 people by the end of 1945, while the remaining “hibakusha” (A-bomb survivors) continue to suffer from the physical and psychological effects of the bombings; and


WHEREAS, the people of the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) continue to suffer from the health and environmental impacts of 67 above-ground nuclear weapons test explosions conducted by the U.S. in their islands between 1946 and 1958, the equivalent of 1.6 Hiroshima-sized bombs detonated daily for 12 years; and


WHEREAS, the RMI on April 24, 2014 filed landmark cases in the ICJ against the U.S. and the eight other nuclear-armed nations claiming that they have failed to comply with their obligations, under the NPT and customary international law, to pursue negotiations for the worldwide elimination of nuclear weapons, and filed a companion case in U.S. Federal District Court; and


WHEREAS, the Administration’s FY 2015 budget request for maintenance and modernization of nuclear bombs and warheads, at more than $8.7 billion, in constant dollars exceeds the amount spent in 1985 for comparable work at the height of President Reagan’s surge in nuclear weapons spending, which was the highest point of Cold War spending; and


WHEREAS, this enormous commitment to modernizing nuclear bombs and warheads and the laboratories and factories to support those activities does not include even larger amounts of funding for planned replacements of delivery systems – the bombers, missiles and submarines that form the strategic triad; in total, according to the General Accounting Office, the U.S. will spend more than $700 billion over the next 30 years to maintain and modernize nuclear weapons systems; the James Martin Center places the number at an astounding one trillion dollars; and


WHEREAS, this money is desperately needed to address basic human needs such as housing, food security, education, healthcare, public safety, education and environmental protection; and


WHEREAS, the U.S. Conference of Mayors has adopted resolutions each year since 2010 calling for deep cuts in nuclear weapons spending and redirection of those funds to meet the needs of cities and adopted an additional resolution in 2011 “Calling on Congress to Redirect Military Spending to Domestic Needs”; and in 2013 called on the U.S. to participate in good faith in the UN Open-Ended Working Group and High-Level Meeting on nuclear disarmament, and the Nayarit Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons; and


WHEREAS, Mayors for Peace continues to advocate for the immediate commencement of negotiations to eliminate nuclear weapons by 2020 and its membership has grown ten fold since the “2020 Vision Campaign” was launched in 2003, surpassing 6,000 members in 158 countries, representing one seventh of the world’s population; and Mayors for Peace, with members in the U.S. and Russia; India and Pakistan, and Israel, Palestine and Iran can be a real force for peace.


NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that U.S. Conference of Mayors expresses its deep concern that the UN Open-Ended Working  Group on nuclear disarmament and the Nayarit Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons took place without the participation of the U.S., Russia, the United Kingdom, France and China; that at the September 26, 2013 UN High-Level Meeting on nuclear disarmament, the U.S. joined with France and the UK in a profoundly negative statement, delivered by a junior British diplomat: “While we are encouraged by the increased energy and enthusiasm around the nuclear disarmament debate, we regret that this energy is being directed toward initiatives such as this High-Level Meeting, the humanitarian consequences campaign, the Open-Ended Working Group and the push for a Nuclear Weapons Convention”; and that the U.S. voted against the 2013 UN General Assembly resolution calling for urgent commencement of negotiations in the Conference on Disarmament for the early conclusion of a nuclear weapons convention; and


BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors calls on the U.S. to participate constructively and in good faith in the Third Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons to be hosted by Austria in Vienna, December 8-9, 2014, and to press the other nuclear weapon states to do likewise; and


BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors calls on the U.S. to participate constructively and in good faith in urgent commencement of negotiations in the Conference on Disarmament for the early conclusion of a comprehensive convention on nuclear weapons, and to press the other nuclear weapon states to do likewise; and


BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors commends the Republic of the Marshall Islands for calling to the world’s attention the failure of the nine nuclear-armed states to comply with their international obligations to pursue negotiations for the worldwide elimination of nuclear weapons, and calls on the U.S. to respond constructively and in good faith to the lawsuits brought by the RMI; and


BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors calls on the U.S. to demonstrate a good faith commitment to its disarmament obligation under Article VI of the NPT by commencing a process to negotiate the global elimination of nuclear weapons within a timebound framework, under strict and effective international control, at the May 2015 NPT Review Conference, and to press the other nuclear weapon states to do likewise; and


BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors urges President Obama to engage in intensive diplomatic efforts to reverse the deteriorating U.S. relationship with Russia; and


BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors calls on the President and Congress to reduce nuclear weapons spending to the minimum necessary to assure the safety and security of the existing weapons as they await disablement and dismantlement, and to redirect those funds to meet the urgent needs of cities; and


BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors calls on its membership to proclaim September 26 in their cities as the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons and to support activities to enhance public awareness and education about the threat posed to humanity by nuclear weapons and the necessity for their total elimination; and


BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors welcomes the appointment of Akron, Ohio and Mayor Donald Plusquellic as a Mayors for Peace regional lead city, and encourages all U.S. mayors for join Mayors for Peace; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors expresses its continuing support for and cooperation with Mayors for Peace.

Submitted by:
The Honorable Donald L. Plusquellic
Mayor of Akron, Ohio
The Honorable William D. “Bill” Euille
Mayor of Alexandria, Virginia
The Honorable Denny Doyle
Mayor of Beaverton, Oregon
The Honorable Mark Kleinschmidt
Mayor of Chapel Hill, North Carolina
The Honorable William E. “Bill” Gluba
Mayor of Davenport, Iowa
The Honorable T.M. Franklin Cownie
Des Moines, Iowa
The Honorable Luigi Boria
Mayor of Doral, Florida
The Honorable Roy D. Buol
Mayor of Dubuque, Iowa
The Honorable William V. “Bill” Bell
Mayor of Durham, North Carolina
The Honorable Salvatore J. Panto, Jr.
Mayor of Easton, Pennsylvania
The Honorable Kitty Piercy
Mayor of Eugene, Oregon
The Honorable Ed Malloy
Mayor of Fairfield, Iowa
The Honorable Joy Cooper
Mayor of Hallandale Beach, Florida
The Honorable Alex Morse
Mayor of Holyoke, Massachusetts
The Honorable Mark Stodola
Mayor of Little Rock, Arkansas
The Honorable Paul Soglin
Mayor of Madison, Wisconsin
The Honorable McKinley Price
Mayor of Newport News, Virginia
The Honorable Chris Koos
Mayor of Normal, Illinois
The Honorable Frank Ortis
Mayor of Pembroke Pines, Florida
The Honorable Michael Brennan
Mayor of Portland, Maine
The Honorable Gayle McLaughlin
Mayor of Richmond, California
The Honorable Ardell Brede
Mayor of Rochester, Minnesota
The Honorable Stephen Cassidy
Mayor of San Leandro, California
The Honorable Pam O’Connor
Mayor of Santa Monica, California
The Honorable Neil King
Mayor of Taos Ski Valley, New Mexico
The Honorable Laurel Lunt Prussing
Mayor of Urbana, Illinois
The Honorable Geraldine Muoio
Mayor of West Palm Beach, Florida

The sheer hypocrisy of Mike Wiggins, Jr. and the corrupt Bad River Tribal Council

The Bad River Band of Ojibwe has filed a request for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to determine whether a proposed iron ore mine would contribute adversely to human health and the environment in northern Wisconsin.

This is welcome news; however, why doesn't the Bad River Band request the EPA to check the quality of the air in its smoke-filled casino at the same time--- there is just a tad bit of hypocrisy in the Bad River Band's request to the EPA.

Just like the Red Lake Nation whose crooked and corrupt tribal council always is talking about the harmful effects of forestry, mining, power lines and oil and gas pipelines but it operates three huge smoke-filled casinos in northern Minnesota plus the tribe is being allowed to build a huge new casino/hotel/conference center/resort-marina right on top of one of the most fragile wetlands in northern Minnesota.

The fact is, money talks and the hypocrisy associated with the greed and corruption have no bounds--- workers and Mother Nature suffer.

The Bad River Band dumps its raw sewage from its casino right into the rivers of northern Minnesota and into Lake Superior... more hypocrisy.

Mining or casinos--- it is all about money, money, money and the people and Mother Nature be damned.

Does hypocrisy have no limits when it is attached to greed?

Of course, the real reason the Bad River Band's Chair Mike Wiggins, Jr. is opposed to the iron ore mine is that his casino will have to compete for labor at much higher wages. If Mike Wiggins and the Band River Tribal Council cared about people and the environment--- and the environment people have to work in like a smoke-filled casino is every bit as deadly as the pollutants from iron ore mining--- Mike Wiggins would invest $50.00 in "No Smoking" signs for the Bad River Casino.

The environmental movement, including the Wisconsin Green Party whose candidates are being funded just like the Democrats and Republicans, by the money from Indian Gaming have remained silent when it comes to workers being forced to work in smoke-filled casinos and this hypocrisy is showing itself--- people don't like the hypocrisy and corruption associated with Indian Gaming and the mining companies and this blatant hypocrisy, and acceptance of it, is part and parcel of the corruption that offends so many people.

It is just such hypocrisy that makes it difficult to mount successful challenges to these mining ventures which end up seeing tax-payers stuck with the clean-up costs for years and years... perhaps centuries.

Bad River Tribal Chair Mike Wiggins, Jr. is as bad, greedy and corrupt as any mining company CEO--- and he kills casino workers with heart and lung diseases, cancers and complications with diabetes that result in forcing casino workers to work in these smoke-filled casinos.



Correction:

Whoops... a mistake:

"The Bad River Band dumps its raw sewage from its casino right into the rivers of northern Minnesota and into Lake Superior... more hypocrisy...."

It should read:

The Bad River Band dumps its raw sewage from its casino right into the rivers of northern Wisconsin and into Lake Superior polluting this huge body of water for Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan and Ontario ... more hypocrisy.

Are you fed up? Can we do better?

Are you fed up?

Is there a better way of doing things?

We are in one heck of a mess...

Never-ending wars...

Nearing climate catastrophe...

Every working class family is caught up in a Cost-of-Living Crisis...

Anyone who doesn't believe there is a “Cost-of-Living Crisis” obviously hasn't gone grocery shopping, filled up their car with gas or paid an insurance premium, rent or an electric or utility bill recently or looked at the interest charged on their credit cards.

Poverty amid such great known wealth with soaring prices for goods and services resulting from monopoly price-fixing coupled with inflation fueled by militarism and wars and attacks on our public institutions...

Racism and discrimination...

The problems are endless.

Are you fed up?

Are you thinking: There must be a better way?

Do you feel like Wall Street has spun a powerful web in which you are trapped with no possibility of escape as these Wall Street parasites suck the life out of you?

What holds this deadly Wall Street spun web together? The ingredients forming the powerful glue holding this web together consist of racism, corruption and anti-communism--- each on their own dangerous poisons causing pernicious societal diseases.

Human society needs these Wall Street parasites about as much as dogs need ticks and fleas.

As capitalism collapses around us--- and on top of us like an old, weathered barn on a foreclosed abandoned homestead--- the human misery is never-ending just like the very costly dirty imperialist wars which now come with tremendous death and destruction one right on top of another even though most of us want peace.

The corporate bribed and corrupted politicians use the Minimum Wage as a lever of government to keep wages down as a means to enforce poverty. By keeping wages down they are doing a favor in return for the bribes they receive from business--- large businesses and small businesses. Businesses, large and small, reap huge super-profits from these low poverty wages.

Let's be clear about this: Any wage that doesn't enable a working class family to purchase the goods and services required for a decent life is a poverty wage. Working people have a right to expect a decent life and standard-of-living in return for their labor.

These politicians always claim a small “increase in the Minimum Wage is better than nothing” as they substantially increase their own pay while ignoring, and doing nothing about, rising prices in the grocery store, the robbery at the gas pumps, the rip-off of steadily increasing electric and heating bills, college tuition out of sight, increased rents and bus fares, unaffordable health/home/automobile insurance costs.

Any government which can control wages through enforcing a poverty Minimum Wage could just as easily control prices at affordable levels. The corporate bribed politicians choose not to control prices of goods and services claiming they are for allowing the “free market” to determine all costs except labor costs. Very conveniently, these politicians always claim their “hands are tied” when it comes to legislating for the common good.

How come these politicians can keep wages down but they can't roll-back and control the prices of any goods or services, the basic necessities of life, we have to purchase in order to live? Can you live on a part-time job paying $9.50 an hour?

It is the epitome of hypocrisy--- not to mention sickening--- for a billionaire Minnesota Governor like Mark Dayton to tout $9.50 an hour as a wage that will lift working class families out of poverty when his wealth has been derived almost exclusively from paying workers poverty wages.

Politicians like Obama and Dayton talk about, “Jobs, Jobs, Jobs,” yet unemployment continues with no end in sight. Where are the jobs these politicians talk about?

The climate crisis continues; putting us on a collision course with Mother Nature. Again, like with wages, these politicians legislate ever bigger carbon footprints not to mention that the industry with the largest carbon footprint in the entire world is the U.S military-industrial complex.

We working people and the environment suffer as Wall Street profits. It just isn't right.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out something is wrong. It doesn't have to be this way.

Minnesota's two socialist governors, Floyd B. Olson and Elmer A. Benson, sought to bring people together to pull for reforms as they simultaneously sought to build the socialist Cooperative Commonwealth here in Minnesota--- this was a good idea back then in the 1930's... and its an even better idea now.

In one of his last interviews before he died, Elmer Benson said his worst political mistake was to support the merger of the socialist Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party with the corrupt and racist Democratic Party thinking the influx of socialist thinking would create a Democratic Party that would become a huge people's party. Things didn't turn out this way and working class socialist thinking was driven out of the Democratic Party.

Benson advocated re-establishing a working class based progressive socialist party for peace, social and economic justice and he advocated re-establishing the “People's Lobby” which he founded to overcome the interests of big-business in Minnesota politics.

As Benson noted: Working people have been abandoned by the Democratic Party, millionaire labor “leaders” and these foundation-funded outfits who hide their Wall Street agendas behind cleverly conceived schemes concocted to hoodwink us into thinking capitalism is alright, it just needs to be tweaked with reforms. As Benson said, “This is pure bullshit; the capitalist system is the source of our problems.”

Well, guess what?

These self-serving, selfish and corrupt politicians bribed by Wall Street won't even provide us with the kind of real reform that would raise the Minimum Wage to a real living wage in line with the actual cost-of-living factors.

How the heck can we expect these over-paid politicians and millionaire union “leaders” who have no concept of the “Cost-of-Living Crisis” working class families are experiencing to address this problem?

Then there are the well-heeled, muddle-headed, upper-middle class “intellectuals” sitting in the ivory towers of the universities where they are shielded from the problems of everyday living working class families are experiencing. They speak for this or that “think tank” serving as media “pundits” to explain our problems to us. All they do is create more confusion, instead of providing clarity. Their intent is to undermine common sense and clear thinking.

We live in the richest country in the world where labor has created all the wealth which Wall Street hordes.

Working people who horde a few canned goods are diagnosed as being mentally ill; but greedy Wall Street “investors” can horde the entire wealth of the Nation and they are running the show.

Much of the wealth labor has created is being squandered on war after war; the rest is controlled by Wall Street which refuses to relinquish its hold. This wealth is required to finance real reforms needed to improve our lives, our quality of life and our standard-of-living.

Instead of investing in reforms which would create jobs, Wall Street invests this money in low-wage areas of the world which destroys our jobs.

We witnessed how this works.

The St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant once employing over two-thousand lays in rubble; a new Ranger assembly plant was built in Thailand. The Trans-Pacific Partnership will enable Ford to import these Ranger pick-up trucks back into the United States. Quite the racket. Wall Street profits; workers suffer.

When workers in Thailand kick about the poverty wages paid by Ford the U.S. Marines will be sent in.

There is never enough money for needed reforms; the wealth Wall Street doesn't horde goes for wars protecting Wall Street's interests, investments and profits. For Wall Street, nothing is more profitable than wars.

We need to challenge Wall Street for political and economic power if we are ever going to straighten out this mess we are in. As Floyd Olson and Elmer Benson noted: Wall Street is our enemy.

Anyone who thinks Wall Street and its politicians can be appealed to for justice is living in La-La Land.

Justice, whether for jobs at living wages or real health care reform, requires a united struggle.

We need to fight to defend our livelihoods and our rights.

The working class needs genuine grassroots and rank-and-file think tanks and action centers in every neighborhood and every place of employment geared to solving our problems through reforms and socialist revolution...

What can't be won at the bargaining table we should be looking to win through legislation.

Let's not kid ourselves... it takes a fight to win.

We need a new kind of politics based on the thinking of the old socialist Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party---

Let's talk about the politics and economics of livelihood for a change.

Working class families have to scrape and scrounge just to get by; it shouldn't be this way. This has a name: Cost-of-Living Crisis. You won't find any Democrats or Republicans talking about this crisis.

Politicians pretend the causes of poverty are complex. Why is it so difficult to figure out that workers without jobs are going to be poor?

Why is it so difficult to figure out that workers paid poverty wages are going to be poor?

Why is it so difficult to figure out that workers employed in part-time jobs paying poverty wages are going to be poor?

There is a better way.

We don't have to live this way.

We don't have to take this crap from Wall Street and their crooked and corrupt politicians.

Like Floyd Olson and Elmer Benson said, “The mines, mills, factories, banking, the forestry and energy industries should be brought under public ownership.” This was the intent of establishing the socialist Cooperative Commonwealth here in Minnesota. A good idea then; a better idea now.

Many of the solutions are very simple; just plain old common sense:

- Pay people real living wages. Raise the Minimum Wage to a real living wage tied to all cost-of-living factors.

- Make the president and Congress responsible for attaining and maintaining full employment--- this isn't too much to expect from politicians who talk about “jobs, jobs, jobs.”

- Provide everyone with a Basic Income Guarantee.

- Put an end to this undemocratic “At-Will Employment” so workers have a voice at work and in the communities where they live without the fear of employer retaliation.

- Put an end to militarism and these dirty wars; use the wealth of our Nation created by labor to create a national public health care system and a national public child care system which would create millions of new jobs at real living wages providing people with the services they need and to which they are entitled.

Instead of 800 U.S. Military bases spread out across the globe protecting Wall Street's investments, assets and profits we need community and neighborhood health care and child care centers in every community and neighborhood.

This isn't a radical idea. These universal social programs would be publicly funded, publicly administered with the services publicly delivered--- just like public education.

Join with us.

Add your voice in support of common sense solutions to our problems.

Minnesotans for a Better Way

If you are fed up, join with us in seeking real solutions to our problems... there is a better way; we all know it.

What we need are citizen activists popping up like dandelions after a warm spring rain.

We need to be thinking in terms of people and Mother Nature before Wall Street profits.

The two-party system is part of Wall Street's web; part of the web spun to keep us trapped--- the two-party trap. Both the Democrats and Republicans serve Wall Street's greedy profit-driven interests.

We would like to convene a state-wide conference of Minnesotans for a Better Way...

To help cover the costs of pulling together this conference, stick one dollar (more if you can afford it) in an envelope and send it to:

Minnesotans for a Better Way

58891 County Road 13

Warroad, Minnesota 56763

For further information, call:

651-587-5541

Gather a few friends around your kitchen table... invite a speaker... get involved as a citizen activist.

Canadian workers have their own political party; the socialist New Democratic Party which is pretty much like our old socialist Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party which was led by Minnesota governors Floyd B. Olson and Elmer A. Benson. Even though Canadians working through their New Democratic Party are on the verge of taking national political power away from Bay Street, their counterpart to Wall Street, we aren't hearing much about this from our so-called “free” media.

For years, the New Democratic Party has been the party in power in Manitoba, our neighbor to the north and working class families are the better off for it.

Like each little individual raindrop we don't amount to much trying to stand up alone to the evil powers that be; but, together, united, we are like Old Man River, the Mighty Mississippi--- we can't be stopped... we will just keep rolling along.

Our first project will be to work up a plan to develop support for a comprehensive legislative initiative for peace, jobs and workers' rights:

“A 21st Century Full Employment Act for Peace and Prosperity.”

A couple closing comments and observations:

Barack Obama's presidency has caused a great deal of confusion with some people still holding out hope that he will prevail in doing good. Had Obama had any decency about him he would have ended these wars, halted the executions by drones and put an immediate stop to home foreclosures and evictions.

And here in Minnesota, this billionaire governor who promised a Minimum Wage that would be a real living wage while declaring no one who works for a living should have to live in poverty would have made good on his campaign promise--- no one can live on $9.50 an hour; it is one more poverty wage... and it won't go into effect until 2016 when any “gain” will have been more than eaten up by price increases and inflation.

Most people have already noted that each succeeding president and the rest of the politicians are worse than the other. This is because their mandate which comes from Wall Street, instead of “we, the people,” places them in positions of trying to save a capitalist system in a serious state of decay which has reached its highest and most moribund stage of imperialism in which huge Wall Street monopolies order the politicians to provide the “technicians,” government bureaucrats, who are placed in positions of authority to run the government as they see fit, irrespective of any human misery they cause--- “collateral damage,” who are trying to save capitalism from complete collapse.

One of the major problems we are experiencing is too many people have bought into the idea that there is no class struggle any longer which has led people to conclude the Democratic Party and the Democrats and their “partners,” the foundation funded outfits and millionaire labor “leaders” who buy into this idea that other countries are our enemies instead of business, multinational corporations and the Wall Street backed political parties.

It is true there are some working class activists, progressives and honest liberals still active in the Democratic Party we must not beak our connections off with but these people are becoming fewer and further between as so many people in this country now recognize the two-party system is a trap established by Wall Street.

This problem was recently brought into full view at a rally on Minnesota's Iron Range where Minnesota's billionaire Democratic Governor was the featured speaker “defining” the problems confronting the taconite industry and members of the United Steelworkers in particular.

Here is what Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton said in his widely publicized speech widely viewed as the opening of his re-election campaign...

< http://www.startribune.com/politics/statelocal/264267421.html#0Goe8it8diebBf9b.97 >:

““The story of the Iron Range is one of standing strong against exploitation and oppression, and too often of a government that will not stand with them,” Dayton said to a cheering crowd of 1,500 iron miners. “Today’s enemies are not the companies, but the countries that dump their steel in the U.S. market, depress the prices and take away your jobs.”

Regional leaders of the United Steelworkers and leaders of the Democratic Party helped Dayton write this speech and it has been confirmed that USW President Leo Girard had his hand in this speech.

Does any thinking person really believe that foreign countries should be viewed as our enemies for “dumping steel” in this country when all these “foreign” companies are more often than not owned in whole or in part by Wall Street investors and the parasites on Canada's Bay Street along with those parasitic vultures hiding behind the monikers as investors and even “philanthropists?”

In fact, Dayton and his family have huge financial holdings in these “foreign” steel companies and his major funding has come from none other than the Rockefeller family which has huge holdings in foreign mining and steel manufacturing all over the world who are directly profiting from this “dumping” and it is the U.S. construction companies who are happy to be able to purchase this “foreign” steel from which they make super-profits--- often selling this steel to our government at sharply inflated rates for bridge work, pipe projects, etc.

And consider this:

If these countries are engaged in “criminal” activity as the USW and these Democrats are claiming, how should we be characterizing the brutal exploitation of workers be used to rape Mother Nature in the process of mining, milling and manufacturing this steel in the first place--- are we not talking about what is the very nature of U.S. Imperialism?

Don't we need an anti-imperialist movement in solidarity with the workers and people's of these other countries whom Minnesota's Governor, the Democratic Party hacks and millionaire labor “leaders” want us to view as our enemies as they let the Daytons and Rockefellers--- Wall Street and Bay Street--- off the hook?

Is there any truth to Dayton's words that these companies like U.S. Steel and Cliff's Natural Resources (Cleveland Cliff) no longer are oppressing and exploiting workers on the Iron Range? How soon we forget that these companies were prepared to bring in an army of scabs just a few short years ago to work the mines and process the taconite had the USW gone on strike for what workers were legitimately entitled to rather than having had concessions shoved down their throats by these same Democrats and millionaire labor “leaders” working hand-in-hand with these Wall Street companies.

And never mentioned by Dayton or these millionaire labor “leaders” is the fact that these mining companies on Minnesota's Iron Range have swindled thousands of workers in the mining industry out of their pensions. It is not China, Brazil or any other country which has swindled these miners out of their pensions it is the very companies on the Iron Range who Dayton now makes the outrageous claim these companies no longer exploit or oppress.

One can not help but wonder what kind of speech Minnesota's socialist governors, Floyd Olson and Elmer Benson, would have delivered at such a rally on Minnesota's Iron Range from which Communist U.S. Congressman John Bernard from Eveleth, Minnesota and the Iron Range organizer for the socialist Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party.

Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton's speech, in spite of his claim to being a big “liberal,” was just one more neo-liberal imperialist speech from one more Wall Street profiteer.

Do we simply ignore all of this because to talk about these facts will give the Republicans a lift up as the Democratic Party hacks claim?

Working people need to analyze what is going on in this country and around the world from a working class anti-imperialist perspective lest the sons and daughters of the working class continue to serve as fodder in these dirty imperialist wars and our Nation's wealth continues to be squandered on militarism and war after war.

It is also noteworthy to mention that over 40% of all the ore mined and processed and manufactured into steel and then fabricated has gone into militarism and wars--- this has left one hell of a carbon footprint contributing to global warming.

Nor did Governor Dayton talk about the need to reduce the work week with forty hours pay, shorten retirement and extend vacations in this taconite industry on Minnesota's Iron Range so that more jobs could be created in this very economically depressed region now being called Appalachia North.

Nor was the need to reorder the priorities of this country away from war and military spending to meet human needs broached in Governor Dayton's speech. Why not? This would create thousands of good paying decent jobs on the Iron Range.

And how is it that Governor Dayton didn't mention the need to organize the big-box industries on the Iron Range--- Wal-mart, Menard's, Target, McDonald's, Burger King? Are not these companies employing thousands of Iron Rangers at part-time jobs paying poverty wages “exploiting” and “oppressing” workers on the Iron Range?

And why no mention of Minnesota remaining an “At-Will Employment State in spite of Governor Dayton presiding over a Democratic super-majority state government?

Dayton did not so much as mention his role in putting over 40,000 Minnesotans to work in loud, noisy, smoke-filled casinos at poverty wages in places of employment where workers have no voice and no rights--- workers without rights at work have no rights in the communities where they live, either. Apparently this Democratic governor loathes speaking about U.S. democracy and the state of democracy here in Minnesota where employers are allowed to lock out workers and bring in scabs.

Again, no one is suggesting we sever ties with working class activists, progressives and real liberals still active in the Democratic Party but remaining silent in the face of this kind of Wall Street imperialist chauvinism and jingoism of blaming other countries for the problems working people here are experiencing when these Wall Street corporations are our common enemy because they exploit and oppress here and abroad is definitely not acceptable.

Governor Dayton's speech on the Iron Range is a far cry from the speeches workers used to hear at Mesaba Cooperative Park where fiery anti-imperialist speeches advocating for building Minnesota's socialist Cooperative Commonwealth were once delivered.

We can do better.

We must do better.

I think of these things often as I visit the graves of my Grandpa and Grandma and the other working class activists buried in that little cemetery in Gilbert, Minnesota who understood that these Wall Street mining companies are our enemies--- our forever enemies.

Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton didn't deliver the class struggle kind of speech required for an Iron Range audience where socialists and Communists still out-number Republicans--- who will say what needs to be said?

Of course, we need to consider that the speech Mark Dayton delivered comes from a billionaire whose fortune is derived from poverty wages and who has the unmitigated gall to suggest working class families should be forced to survive on the miserly $9.50 an hour Minimum Wage being delivered incrementally on an installment plan as working class families are forced to endure a Cost-of-Living Crisis he and the Democrats refuse to address as they launch into one more campaign using the rhetoric of "jobs, jobs, jobs"--- more poverty wage jobs from which these companies who no longer exploit and oppress will reap super-profits. 

Alan L. Maki

A proud “Red” Finn

More questions about the Minimum Wage.

The highest legislated Minimum Wage right now here in the United States is $10.25 an hour. This is the present Minimum Wage on the Leech Lake Indian Reservation. Because of pressure on the part of the people it has been steadily increasing.

Why is everyone talking about a $15.00 Minimum Wage in Seattle when most workers won't receive it for seven years... and other workers will have to wait at least three years.

In Michigan they talk about a Minimum Wage raise to $9.25 an hour... this will take place in four years.

In Minnesota they talk about the Minimum Wage having been raised to $9.50 an hour even though that won't kick in for another three years.

Workers, including hundreds of casino workers, employed on the Leech Lake Indian Reservation are receiving $10.25 an hour right now and no one wants to acknowledge this since the politicians can't reap political benefit from talking about this. In fact, Leech Lakes Minimum Wage makes all these politicians look like a bunch of self-serving opportunists just out to use the victims of poverty in order to get votes.

Why aren't any unions or their foundation-funded think-tanks like the Economic Policy Institute demanding the Minimum Wage be raised nationally to match Leech Lake's Minimum Wage?

Leech Lake's Minimum Wage is still a paltry, miserly pathetic poverty Minimum Wage--- but, it is still the highest Minimum Wage in the country... and, at least it could be emulated rather than ignored... especially by all those who so enthusiastically support these Minimum Wage "increases" that won't even take effect until after inflation and soaring prices eat up these "increases" which will make these "increases" substantially less than the accumulated wages workers employed on the Leech Lake Indian Reservation have accumulated in the meantime boosting their real spending power, today, far in excess of what these phony Minimum Wage "increases" will produce in the future once they take effect.

Of course, those who don't understand the relationship between wages and cost-of-living nor have any concern, other than opportunist political expediency or so well-heeled they can purchase any goods or services without thinking, will never understand this just like they don't understand every single working class family is experiencing a "Cost-of-Living Crisis" making every single day a crisis-of-everyday living as people scrape, scrounge and curtail their lives in order to get by.

Few people involved in this struggle over the question of the Minimum Wage can say they haven't heard of Leech Lake's $10.25 Minimum Wage--- which, in addition to being the highest Minimum Wage in the United States is also the largest pay increase any workers in the United States have received; and, it is one of the higher starting wages in the United States.

In addition, this $10.25 Minimum Wage is higher than many workers get out of union contracts for which they are paying exorbitant union dues to pay the salaries of millionaire labor "leaders" who are no better than the bosses.

This unfounded infatuation with 15 Now, the Democrats, the AFL-CIO and these foundation-funded outfits like the "liberal" Economic Policy Institute and the "progressive" Campaign for America's Future "leading" these "movements" for Minimum Wage "increases" claiming "something is better than nothing" after previously declaring they intended to struggle for real living wages because, as they stated, "No one who works for a living should have to live in poverty," are dishonest in continuing not to note the Leech Lake Minimum Wage of $10.25 an hour which increases the purchasing power of workers right here and now as millions of workers are losing purchasing power and sinking further into the abyss of poverty as businesses--- large and small--- continue reaping massive super-profits from these poverty wages.

Someone should try to calculate just how many hundreds of millions of hours are being worked by workers receiving between $5.25 and $10.25 an hour. The figure is sheer super-profit.

How can a very poor poverty stricken Indian Reservation like the Leech Lake Indian Nation pay its employees, including hundreds of casino workers a Minimum Wage of $10.25 an hour but other cities, states, the federal government and corporations wallowing in record profits claim they can't pay the workers they employ a miserly, measly Minimum Wage of $10.25 an hour lest they go broke? Someone answer this question.

Why no discussion about the relationship between wages and cost-of-living?

Once again, the AFL-CIO and their think-tank, the Economic Policy Institute, are "leading" the struggle to increase wages.

Read all about it here--- it all sounds so good:

http://www.aflcio.org/Blog/Economy/EPI-Maps-Out-Plan-to-Raise-America-s-Wages

Until you read the "study" that will provide the support for this "campaign" to raise wages:

http://www.epi.org/publication/raising-americas-pay/

Initiating a struggle to raise wages sounds real good.

BUT...

How does the AFL-CIO explain how it is that they could hire a liberal think-tank to draft a 76 page document backing up their "campaign" to raise wages and the study does not so much as mention "cost-of-living" in relation to wages?

This is a good study hitting on a lot of important issues including pointing out that wages have not kept pace with the rapid rise in productivity; but, when mapping out a "campaign" to raise wages one has to wonder how it can be that the relationship between wages and "cost-of-living" is completely ignored.

This "campaign" and this "study" backing this "campaign" are what working people get when millionaire labor "leaders" and over-paid, well-heeled, muddle-headed, upper-middle class intellectuals get together to do the thinking for working people.

It is relatively easy to predict what this "campaign" will lead to--- not the kind of united, militant, mass working class struggle required to win real living wages; but, support for these worthless Dumb Donkeys who talk about how no worker should have to work for less than real living wages with their families mired in poverty as standard campaign rhetoric that fits in well with their hypocritical talk about "jobs, jobs, jobs" for stump speeches to get votes but once elected they turn around and legislate a Minimum Wage "increase" that is just one more poverty wage when what is required is to legislatively tie the Minimum Wage to all cost-of-living factors and provide legislation making full-employment the mandatory responsibility of the president and Congress.

But, one has to wonder how it can be that such a study intended to provide the backing of a campaign to raise wages does not so much as mention "cost-of-living" nor the all-important relationship between wages and cost-of-living--- what workers can purchase with their wages which comprises, together with benefits and universal social programs, that which determines what kind of "standard-of-living" working people will have.

There are several other interesting aspects as far as what this "study" leaves out.

First, taking their cue from all the other racist think-tanks, the plight of Native American Indians is completely ignored in spite of the fact that over 95% of Native American Indians are working class and the poorest of the poor. How can any "campaign" to raise wages move forward by ignoring the plight of a people who are the primary victims of everything wrong in our country?

Second, this study fails to use the United Nation's Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a guide to action even though organized labor "celebrates" its anniversary once a year and upholds it during these once a year celebrations as the primary document upon which we should judge whether or not the government and economy work for working people.

In fact, this "campaign," just like the "study" backing it, lacks specifics based on what needs to be done to win real living wages here in the United States...

First and foremost in any struggle to win real living wages it must be noted that central to this struggle is addressing the relationship between wages and cost-of-living which determines the standard-of-living and quality-of-life workers, working class families and the entire working class will have.

Call the Economic Policy Institute and ask them how it can be that they have created a "study" that is central to a "campaign" that will take up the task to raise wages without so much as one single mention of "cost-of-living" and the all-important relationship between wages and cost-of-living?

Here is the EPI phone number: 202-775-8810

One more superficial campaign backed by a superficial study.

Grassroots and rank-and-file activists need to organize their own think-tanks which will provide the backing for a new working class based progressive people's party which will be an integral part of the struggles in the workplaces, in the streets and in working class communities.

We can't win a raise through press conferences announcing these kinds of liberal studies omitting the relationship between wages and cost-of-living which must become our primary focus.

How can any study purporting to be the intellectual backing for a working class campaign to raise wages and the Minimum Wage to real living wages completely ignore the "Cost-of-Living Crisis" every single working class family in the United States and across the world is experiencing?

Do these labor "leaders" and the "intellectuals" they hire have no understanding of the crisis of everyday living working class families are caught up in? A crisis from which Wall Street reaps huge profits.

Do these labor "leaders" and the over-paid "intellectuals" they hire to create these kinds of superficial studies not understand that poverty is a state of not being able to attain the necessities required for a decent life which should be the result of "working for a living?"

If this is your idea of a "campaign" to "raise wages" be prepared to live in the abyss of poverty for the rest of your life and to saddle future generations to living in even worse poverty.

We are being pushed into a national discussion leading up to the upcoming elections where a superficial and meaningless form of "economic populism" is being passed off as the framework for curing what ails our country; an "economic populism" that provides no specific programs required to resolve our problems and an "economic populism" which tries to omit the adverse impact of imperialist militarism and wars on our lives.

Why would any study note the high levels of productivity that have been achieved by the U.S. working class and then fail to advocate for a real living wage based on all cost-of-living factors? This doesn't even make any sense if they are sincere about improving the lives and livelihoods of working people as they lay claim to--- unless they aren't sincere and are only using us and our problems in order to get a bunch of worthless Democrats elected. This wouldn't be the first time this has happened.

For further discussion of these issues check out:

http://unitingpeopleworks4us.blogspot.com/2013/08/prosperity-economics-building-economy_8490.html