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Vol. 81/No. 8 February 27, 2017
25, 50, and 75 Years Ago
February 28, 1992
Washington continues to forcibly repatriate thousands of Haitians
despite new revelations of the persecution these refugees face upon
their return.
On February 11, the U.S. Supreme Court once again refused to block the
forced return of the refugees. The high court January 31 lifted a lower
court injunction that barred their repatriation after the Bush
administration filed an emergency appeal claiming that an additional
20,000 Haitians were about to flee by boat to the United States. This
assertion was contradicted by social service groups, diplomats, and even
the top U.S. Coast Guard official in Haiti.
In its argument before the Supreme Court, the Bush administration
claimed that legal challenges to the forced return of Haitians amounts
to an “unprecedented assault” on the prerogatives of the executive
branch of government to conduct foreign policy.
February 27, 1967
Union members have little reason to take comfort from George Meany’s
denial that the AFL-CIO has taken money from the CIA. Nor is there any
reason to give credibility to his assertion that he disapproves of
unions taking such money from the cloak-and-dagger outfit. Meany’s
statement can best be described in CIA jargon — a cover story.
It has been a matter of scandal for 15 years that Meany’s foreign policy
adviser, Jay Lovestone, has collaborated with the CIA in its policy of
subverting so-called communist-led unions abroad.
In the days when union leaders saw their role as fighting to improve the
lot of the workers they represented, they also regarded international
activity as that of aiding workers in other lands in their struggles
against employers and governments that acted on behalf of the employers.
The CIA-directed activity has been the very opposite.
February 28, 1942
The British ruling class is now powerless to stem by force the surging
tide of Indian emancipation. Freedom for India lies within the grasp of
the 400 million people of that oppressed country.
But what it can no longer successfully retain by force, the British
ruling class now hopes to hold by cunning, by bargaining and by promise.
Feelers are being put forth designed to determine how little the British
ruling class will have to pay for India’s support of the war. Downing
Street is tendering offers of a “great political voice” for the people
of India, “dominion status” — in short, anything but the removal of the
British yoke from India.
The struggle for the national independence of India is not the battle of
the Indian masses alone. It is as much the struggle of the workers
everywhere, and of the British workers in particular.
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