May 3, 2003

WASHINGTON – A standing-room crowd of Cuba solidarity activists packed the Cuban Interest Section April 26 for a briefing on the current U.S.-Cuba crisis. Cuba’s response to so-called “dissidents” including the execution of three men who hijacked a ferry has stirred widespread concern among many who have been active in Cuba solidarity. The ferry hijacking was one of seven hijackings of Cuban airliners and boats in as many months, placing at risk the lives of scores of men, women and children.

On April 15, five more young men joined the growing ranks of Israelis who refuse to enlist in the military because of their conscientious objection to the occupation of the Palestinian Territories, and to the actions by which the army enforces it. The Israeli Communist Party (ICP) has issued a special appeal for solidarity with all the conscientious objectors (also known as “refuseniks”) who refuse military service because of the occupation policy.

NEW DELHI – Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), a form of pneumonia, is spreading across Asia. Thousands are in hospitals and the death toll is several hundred. The most affected nations are China including Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia, Philippines and Burma. In India, 13 cases have been reported and nine have died.

France: General strike planned May 13

French trade unions, outraged over the Chirac government’s plans to reform the pension system, said last week that public and private sector workers will hold a one-day general strike May 13.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Youth and Student Peace Coalition (NYSPC) announced on April 24 a campaign on voter registration, education and action to mobilize the youth vote. Student activists across the country will deliver pledge cards to elected officials on May 6, declaring their intent to vote for “Books Not Bombs” in the 2004 election.

Sacrifice. That is the watchword for the moment. After three years of slowing and now stagnant growth in the U.S. economy, Americans are asked by the economic lords and their media lapdogs to sacrifice for the common good.

TYLER, Texas – On April 26, a bell tolled here for workers who had been killed on the job during the past year. Leaders of the United Steel Workers of America (USWA) read a name, then waited for the sad, piercing song of the bell, then read another name. The bell rang more than 40 times while the crowd of 300 silent unionists attending a Workers Memorial Day commemoration stood silently in remembrance of the dead, the injured and to rededicate themselves to ending workplace tragedies.

In an address to a joint session of Congress on Sept. 23, 1993, Clinton pledged to deliver universal health insurance to the country. Under Clinton’s proposal, everyone in the United States would carry a card signifying federal government assurance of continuous health insurance coverage.

The decades’ long fight by U.S. workers for an eight-hour day began in earnest with strikes and parades on May 1, 1886, and culminated in victory more than 50 years later with enactment of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) in July 1938.

May 1: International Workers’ Day

Only 117 years ago, May 1, 1886, Albert and Lucy Parsons and their two children led 80,000 workers up Chicago’s Michigan Avenue, arm-in-arm, singing. That day, a third of a million American workers answered the call of the Federation of Organized Trade and Labor Unions, predecessor of the American Federation of Labor, to lay down their tools, demanding relief from the brutal 12- and 14-hour workdays imposed by the capitalist employers.