Food Crisis Solution Starts With Farmworkers

This Meeting on the International Food Crisis Highlighted the Key Factor: Workers Who Farm the Land

Florida Immokalee Workers Lead the Way

by Phil E. Benjamin

On Friday evening, October 16, The Great Hall of Cooper Union in NYC hosted a major meeting/rally to continue the struggle of ending hunger around the world. Entitled, "Step Up to the Plate: ending the World Food Crisis," this gathering had all the ingredients of the struggle to win: the world wide perspective, the regional arena; and, the focus on farmworkers and food unions.

Ben Malor the chief executive Producer of United Nations Radio chaired the evening and kept the links between the seemingly very disparate, yet very linked, speakers harmonizing toward the goal of the evening.

Raj Patel, a British borne academic writer and political activist, keynoted with a stirring attack on the international food industry and the main culprits, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Patel spoke from direct experience. Earlier in his life he actually worked at The Bank and learned first hand of its dangerous methods and goals. He left The Bank and continued his academic work in California where he earned his PHD at Berkeley. He played a significant role in the battles which took place in Seattle, Washington in 1999. His book, "Stuffed and Starved: the Hidden Battle for the World Food System" [Melville House Publishing; 398 pages, 2007, $19.95], has been widely acclaimed. It is reminiscent of Fast Food Nation, and takes the level of the struggle to a higher level. [Watch for a PA review on the Patel book.]

Family Farm Coalition leader Ben Burkett discussed the plight of the small farmers. As director of the Mississippi Association of Cooperatives he spoke with force about the importance of small farmers against the agribusiness. A representative from the Wisconsin family farmers, the National Family Farm coalition and Grassroots International, buttressed the words of Burkett.

Alice Waters the nationally known and internationally recognized chef and restaurant owner of Chez Panisse from Berkeley, California, spoke about her efforts to take the "slow food" movement which promotes the use local farmers by restaurants and also the use of organic foods to a higher stage. But, her main passion has grown to be the converting of public schools to the use of organic and good foods in their cafeterias. [This is reminiscent of the efforts of the major of Barjac, France where Mayor Edouard Chaulet is converting his public school foods; and, those of the Catholic Schools, to organic foods. The film French film by Jean-Paul Jaud, "Nos Enfants; Nous Accuseront" just released documents that effort. This is truly an international effort.

Workers and Unions

But, the truly different and advanced aspect of this evening was the highlighting of workers and unions on this struggle.

The revolutionary element of this meeting was met by Gerardo Reyes a leader and organizer for the Coalition of Immokalee Workers of Southwestern Florida. Reyes described its Campaign for Fair Food that seeks to eliminate sweatshop conditions and modern day slavery in the agricultural fields. Reyes descriptions of worker solidarity were truly remarkable. He described the Immokalee Workers successful work in forcing Taco Bell, McDonalds and Burger King to only use products from their fields that paid decent wages and working conditions. His talk brought the hundreds of those at the meeting to applause.

The Coalition first major victory was to win over $100,000 in back wages for farmworkers. It has lead over 3,000 strikes. He said that workers must be part of any solution to this crisis.

Pat Purcell from Local 1500 of the United Food and Commercial Workers union that presents over 22,000 workers in the NYC area rose to support the works of the speakers of the evening. He especially called for repeated attention to the work of Reyes. He said that food workers in supermarkets are part of this struggle, also; and the UFCW is pledged to participate and contribute to these efforts.

Food Crisis

The meeting did not lose sight of the worldwide, astronomical increase in the price of basic foods with the world facing devastating hunger and food insecurity.

Sign up and Get Active

The organizers of the meeting called on all of those assembled to "step up to the plate" and get active through its call to action. They asked everyone to visit:
www.usfoodcrisisgroup.org.

The Armchair or the Walker: Responding to Thomas Riggins

by Lawrence Albright

While I agree with many of the points made by Thomas Riggins in his post "How The Ultra-Left Helps McCain," I cannot help but feel that the use of the term "ultra-left" as a pejorative is deserving of avoidance, if not actual retirement.

In the interests of full disclosure, I admit a certain subjectivity in the sense that my personal tolerance with labels is virtually nil. So the fact that the use of the "ultra-left" appellation may be objectively true using the yardstick of literature from the Leninist canon matters rather less to me than the fact that it represents an insular language of value to far fewer persons than we would perhaps care to admit.

The use of labels in politics has a lengthy traditon throughout the world, not just in the United States. But all too often on the left, name calling has substituted for polemics. In this sense, my unease with Tom's posting is more a matter of style than substance.

Where I disagree strongly with Tom is his contention that the efforts of "ultra-left" groups somehow helps the McCain campaign. Tom's heart is in the right place, and I agree that disseminating a message that the elections next month mean nothing is politically misguided.

But to say that such politics "helps" the McCain campaign is a break with reality only slightly less onerous than that ascribed to the "ultra-left."

The left in the United States, and to a lesser extent internationally, is in disarray if not precisely in crisis. We can perhaps be forgiven for having a greater awareness of what groups like the Socialist Party, Socialist Workers Party, Green Party, PSL, etc. are doing because, broadly speaking and despite real and significant differences, they're part of our milieu. But to define them as a "danger" and a threat in that they will "help McCain" is at best an overstatement of their impact and influence.


I haven't tested the notion but guess that if you asked ten people on the street whom the Socialist Party (or Greens, PSL, SWP....) were running for President, you would be lucky to find one person who would could give you correct answers. And these organizations are not on the ballot in a sufficient number of states to "help" McCain in any case. When the restrictive ballot access laws are taken on and defeated nationally, an effort that has been pursued before and made little in the way of progress, this would be a different matter.


It is not comforting to remember that the "heyday" of the so-called "old left" was in the 1930's and 1940's and the so-called "new left" had its apex in the 1960's. While the left is not without its successes, and these are far too numerous to mention in this piece, objectively the greatest impact of the left domestically and internationally comes from the neo-conservative movement which had its origins in the "anti-Stalinist left" in the 1930's and 1940's, and kept moving to the right to the extent they organized for Nixon against McGovern in 1972 to become the architects of the "Reagan Revolution." They also held key positions of influence in the executive councils of the AFL-CIO.


One of the things most intriguing to me is the gains made by the Communist Party in the past eight years. Certainly, the reasons for this go beyond a greater openness and the increased visibility provided by the Internet. In particular, there has been to my mind an evolving understanding that a reliance on jargon and styles of the past promote myopia rather than vision. The ability of understand, analyze, and participate in the day-to-day struggles is something that separates the CPUSA from the "ultra-left."


I feel we must leave behind labels like "ultra-left," "sectarian," and the like. They contribute little to understanding and, in the final analysis, force us to relate to the old and insular world of an isolated left. Let the Trotskysists fight the old battles of whether Trotsky or Stalin was the rightful heir to Lenin; these organizations split more often than a pair of old pants in worn by a middle-aged man whose waistline has grown at a rate unmatched by his common sense -- and the membership of many of these groups can fit comfortably in an average sized living room.


In like manner, there is still a tendency among many on the left, "ultra" and otherwise, to treat Marxism as a kind of sacred and inviolable creed rather than a social science. Others have written on this topic, and in this forum, in better ways than me. It strikes me as a paradox that some Marxists, who would describe themselves as non-religious, in their zeal to "defend" Marxism more closely resemble catechumens than revolutionaries.


There is much in the words of Marx and Lenin (who died within six years of the revolution while still in his 50's) that is of value. There is a place for the defense of Marxism and Leninism, and a good segment of the left has been so engaged to greater or lesser extents for decades. When such an effort by well intended people has been raised to the level of primacy, as has been the case from time to time in any number of groups, the result has been to reduce politics to the armchair or the walker.


What lessons can be drawn from the fact that an organization can be "right" on virtually every issue and not have that translate to greater relevance or influence? I believe it is this type of phenomenon that makes an organization look inward, or at best to other left tendencies and currents with which it perceives itself to be in competition.


I agree wholeheartely with CPUSA National Chair Sam Webb when he wrote that it wasn't enough to be right, you have to be right in the right way.

Yes, there is an "ultra-left" by most standards, Marxist and otherwise. There was yesterday, and there will be tomorrow. I don't see taking to task the strategy or tactics of such groups as having any measure of importance or priority. What I do see as having priority is restoring the lustre to socialism -- to the advocacy and articulation of a socialism that owes its advantages not to past models or shibboleths but lives as an attainable vision of a vastly more democratic, humane and equitable society.

Surprise! Barack O'bama is Irish

HOW THE ULTRALEFT HELPS McCAIN

Thomas Riggins

Progressives and even moderates are aware of, if not shocked by, the amount of racism being stirred up by the Republicans in their, hopefully, vain attempt to put McCain in the White House.

At a time when the defeat of the Republicans and other ultra-right forces is absolutely necessary to halt the decline of the U.S. onto an outright fascist road some elements on the left are promoting an ultraleft thesis that would actually help the McCain forces if it were acted upon.

Here is a quote which ably states this thesis: "Capitalist electoral politics are a totally ineffective framework within which to fight the ultraright and fascist elements. On the the contrary , the ultraright is now using that arena to galvanize its own movement."

So the progressive movement should abandon the electoral arena and allow the fascist elements free reign. That seems to be the logical conclusion, for why should the progressive movement engage in ineffective activity?

To put forth such a thesis, which, if acted upon, is tantamount to surrendering the state to the ultraright forces, is reckless and, as Lenin pointed out long ago, "infantile." This damages the progressive movement by misleading many youth, who are being mobilized to progressive movements for the first time and have no long term experience with electoral politics, into thinking that electoral politics is only useful to the bourgeoisie.

The fact is that "capitalist electoral politics" is one of the areas in which the working class can struggle to further its class interests. It is not the ONLY area in which to struggle but it is certainly NOT a "totally ineffective" area in which to struggle. The fact that the ultaright is "galvanizing" in this arena is even more reason for the left to enter the fray to expose and defeat the class enemy.

Joe the Laborer Speaks Up

Unlike "Joe the Plumber" who as it turns out isn't really a plumber, isn't really trying to buy anybody's business, and may not even be a voter, Joe the laborer is a laborer and plans to vote on Nov. 4th for Obama.

McCain Loses the Last Debate

by Norman Markowitz

I watched the last debate in rerun after my team, the Dodgers, were knocked out of the playoffs by the Phillies. The Dodger shortstop, Rafael Furcal, made three errors in the fifth inning that sealed the Dodgers doom. McCain made many more errors, of arrogance, insensitivity and irrelevance during the debate, some of which the media recorded. Furcal is a good player, recovering from an injury, who will be better next year. McCain won't be any better next year when he will still be in the Senate, with fewer fellow Republicans, denouncing "class warfare" legislation when, for the first time in decades, it will be on the side of the people.

Obama was clear and consistent while McCain huffed and puffed the usual Republican stuff about taxes, threw in Bill Ayers, had perhaps his worst moment of the campaign when he spoke about his opposition to pregnancy terminations and mocked both Obama and "the pro-abortion" people for "stretching" the issue of "women's health" to defend pregnancy terminations. That got me very angry, although like McCain I have never been and can never be pregnant. Who was he to challenge women defending the health of women in a world where so many died of botched back alley abortions before Roe v. Wade, which he would know repeal.

The polls afterwards showed that the majority of viewers thought that Obama won the debate, as they had the earlier debates(the numbers for women voters were somewhat higher than they were in the earlier debates). The "liberal" media which in reality is the most politically pro business, pro conservative in the developed world with the exception of Italy(where the rightwing Prime Minister owns a majority of the private media and controls the public media) pretty much said the same thing, although they tried to put the best face on it that they could.

Even McCain's supporters seemed to be bored with him. All they could say is that he was more lively, more animated, more on the offensive in the first part of the debate. That was true, but his tight lipped smile and occasional manic look(unlike his somber and wooden appearance in the first debate and his puppet movements and gestures in the second) wasn't connected to his scoring any serious points against Obama and, even the McCain supporters grudgingly admitted, Obama took control of the second part of the debate by their standards.All they could do was to pick at Obama's statements, try to restate McCain's attempt to attack his "experience" in a more effective way than McCain did.

If the debate were being scored the way debate between individuals or teams are, Obama's lead would be insurmountable and, in any team competition, McCain would be off the team.

Senator Obama continues to advance on a broad progressive front, repudiating in general the economic philosophy of the Bush years and suggesting that the problems go back a lot longer than Bush, keeping his specific policy options open while offering both his supporters and the people a direction toward change that means reform in their interest.

I am really beginning to see the outline of a landslide victory for Obama and for the Democrats as a party in development as the election campaign continues.

McCain isn't making too much sense even for millions of centrist suburban Republican voters who see the economic crisis and regressive property taxes crippling their communities and destroying their home equity unless there is substantial federal aid to state and local communities--which they know will never come from McCain or from the Republicans whom they have supported in the past to maintain their privileges.

Also, the ugly hate-filled face of Palin and McCain rally people, the vile and obscene commentary that is filling the internet about Obama from characters who make Rush Limbaugh sound like a civil libertarian, is beginning to disgust many independent and for that matter Republican voters.

A friend of mine, a conservative , who will probably vote for McCain but won't be too sad to see him go down, told me he is going to great lengths not to associate with these characters, whom he sees as "losers" who act like bullies to hide their ignorance and their personal psychological problems.

He thinks that the "real fight" will be for "real" conservatives (people who can seriously defend the present socio economic system and strengthen it as it is) to take the Republican party away from these characters before they make it as weak as it was in the 1930s or worse. I told him gently that I didn't think his prospects were too good.

That with the Republicans, what you see is what you will get and as the country moves forward, they will go deeper into their political holes, leaving the more reasonable and more ambitious elements among their supporters to leave them and seek new political alignments.But, that is still very much in the future, a future which we must spend the next 19 days fighting to build.

All that's missing is the white sheets and hoods

U.S. drops to 29th in the world in infant mortality

Thomas Riggins

Today's New York Times reports that infant mortality has "long been considered one of the most important indicators of the health of a nation and the quality of its medical system." We also spend more money on medical care per capita than any of the countries that have lower rates of infant mortality. The U.S. now ranks 29th in the world, down from 12th in 1960. This is proof positive that our privatized system really stinks. Conservatives will rejoice to know that according to the figures released today in the NYT, from the U.S.'s own Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, EVERY country that was presented in Michael Moore's movie SICKO as having a better medical system than the U.S. had in fact lower infant mortality rates. The countries that SICKO profiled were the USA (with a horrible health system) and the following nations that beat the USA in terms of health care with regards to infant mortality--in order: France, England, Canada, and CUBA. Would SOCIALIZED MEDICINE be good for the USA? You better believe it. Maybe the McCain supporters and others opposed to a single payer system will argue that by letting more babies die we are doing our bit to keep down the world population. We actually let them die so the private medical insurance companies and drug companies can make bigger profits.

THE OPINION MAKERS 7

THE OPINION MAKERS: AN INSIDER EXPOSES THE TRUTH BEHIND THE POLLS by David W. Moore
Part 7

Chapter 6 "Damaging Democracy"

Reviewed by Thomas Riggins

This chapter is rather short compared to most of the others and somewhat repetitive. Moore draws some conclusions, based on the other chapters, about the effects the polls have on American democracy. Since, as we have seen, the polls misrepresent what the American public is thinking, and mislead everyone as to the popularity and winning chances of competing politicians (most of the time), he thinks most polls actually "damage the democratic process." If people believe false polls they may not oppose policies that they incorrectly believe to be popular.

He opposes national polls of Democrats vs polls of Republicans because he thinks they don't really predict how people will actually vote, hence are misleading. Although general polls of the population about the popularity. at the time, of a candidate are a little better-- they are "at least trying to describe a future real-world event"-- the results of the general election in the case the presidency-- he thinks they are "typically worthless." As earlier chapters have shown, polls taken more than two weeks out from the election are basically unreliable. They can be harmful to democracy as well insofar as they can be used "to suppress the truth about the electorate."

He ends this chapter by remarking that "polling can be a useful tool for enhancing democracy, but only if it is used to serve the needs of the public , not the whims of the press." This would suggest that we need some sort of neutral national polling agency, perhaps run by academics with no bone to pick and who were only interested in actually finding out what the public was thinking. At any rate, the system we have now, mostly sponsored by the mass media seeking viewers and readers, or by political action groups and special interests does more harm than good and is more akin to propaganda then news reporting.

Next: Chapter 7 "Uncertain Future."

The Ugly Face of the Republican "Base"

by Norman Markowitz

In their desperation, the rightwing "base" that the Republicans have been pandering to is becoming more hysterical and potentially more dangerous. A former student sent me an email mentioning that he and a friend, showing support for Obama in a bar, had a thuggish character turn and say "anyone who doesn't vote for McCain is an N------ lover" and threaten violence. The Internet is filled with the sort of crude big lies and conspiracy theories for McCain that are Hitlerian in their hysteria --Black Muslims, millionaires, Communists, socialists, homosexuals, liberal media,all connected in great web to put Obama in the White House and keep "war hero" and "American" John McCain out.

It does no good to answer such comments with reason and evidence because they have nothing to do with reason and/or evidence.

Anger, serious anger, can be a creative force in history. By that I mean the anger of working people as they become conscious of their class position and exploitation; the anger of people who come to understand that they have been sent to fight and die in wars and occupations by exploiters and oppressors whose only interest is in there wealth and power; the anger of those who come to realize that they have been lied to about the world, their society, and the events of the moment all of their lives by the powers that be. That anger can produce organization and focus that can lead to substantive change, even revolutionary change in specific contexts.

But that has nothing to do with the anger of those who, in a line from the old musical Auntie Mame, have "braces on their brains," who scream "America" the way Adolf Schickelgrubber screamed "Deutsch land" and that is the anger that we see in the McCain rallies, the Palin rallies, on the Internet, and in the streets. It is the anger of political minority
headed searching for scapegoats for the general disaster that its "leaders" have created.

What we can do is stand up to them in a united way, not be afraid of their bullying, and make it clear that it is they who will have to come to terms with the real world unless they want to enter into to turn their "communities" into bunkers and let the the" real America" which is always something that is changing and developing, not their self-hatred masquerading as self love. They are losing and losing badly and they know it. We can and must continue to advance on a broad front and bring about the largest victory possible at all levels. That, in the midst of this continuing economic crisis is becoming more and more probable, whereas a few weeks ago it was possible.