Apr 20, 2002

Last Wednesday, paramilitaries dragged Alfredo Zapata Herrera, a leader of the SUTIMAC trade union, off a bus while on his way to work. The next day he was found dead nearby. He was the 45th trade unionist assassinated so far this year while a further ten have disappeared.

WASHINGTON – “America must not be a passive onlooker as AIDS turns entire African nations into graveyards.” So said actor Danny Glover, speaking to a “Day of Hope” rally of 1,000 protesters on the west lawn of the U.S. Capitol April 10.

BRONX, NY – “Hazlo por escrito” fue el mensaje que se le envió al presidente George W. Bush desde la Cumbre Nacional para la Paz y Justicia de Vieques celebrada aquí en el Hostos Community College los días 12 y 13 de abril. Los activistas exigen que Bush emita una Orden Ejecutiva para ponerle fuerza a su declarado compromiso de poner fin al uso de Vieques como área de prácticas militares por la Marina para el mayo del 2003. For the entire article, click on the headline. To visit the Vieques Summit website, click here.

CHICAGO – Over 500 people marched here April 14, calling for amnesty for all undocumented immigrants, an end to the U.S. bombardment of the Puerto Rican island of Vieques, and justice for all.

When Frederick Engels wrote Socialism: Scientific and Utopian, some 130 years ago, he said Marx uncovered two “secrets” that catapulted the years of human yearning for a just, equal and democratic world from wishful thinking into the realm of material existence and science.

WASHINGTON – From every point of the compass, thousands of protesters will pour into the nation’s capital April 20 for a march to demand, “Stop the war at home and abroad.”

The arrogant disregard of several international treaties by the Bush administration has drawn fire from several sources in recent weeks, the most recent an op-ed piece in the New York Times by David J. Scheffer, chief American negotiator for the International Criminal Court during the Clinton administration.

During the weeks before and after March 31, hundreds of thousands of workers and supporters across the country celebrated the birthday of United Farm Worker Union co-founder and hero, Cesar Chavez. Amid the celebrations, time was taken to reflect on the status of immigrant workers in 2002.

WASHINGTON – With Enron as a symbol of what has gone wrong, a coalition of labor, civil and human rights groups met here April 10-12 to chart a fightback against corporate America and the Republican right in the 2002 elections.

LORAIN, Ohio – With a rallying cry of “Let’s Make Steel!” 200 people gathered together in the Lynn Williams Learning Center here. Under the leadership of Rep. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), dozens of steelworkers, public officials, education and religious community leaders, rallied to save the bankrupt Republic Technologies Incorporated steel mill from shutting down.