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THE MILITANT
Vol.65/No.44            November 19, 2001

Miamians organize nationwide fight against political firing of
  candidate for mayor
(front page)

BY MARTÍN KOPPEL AND CINDY JAQUITH

MIAMI--"Goodwill Industries has violated the First Amendment
right to free speech by firing me for advocating political
ideas the employer doesn't agree with," said Michael Italie,
a garment worker and Socialist Workers candidate for mayor
of this city, at a November 6 press conference in front of
the plant. The only working-class candidate in the mayoral
race, Italie has been speaking out against Washington's war
on Afghanistan, defending the Cuban Revolution, and
championing struggles by unionists, farmers, opponents of
police brutality, and other working people.

"They didn't claim that I was doing a poor job as a sewing
machine operator, or that something I did on the job was
disruptive," Italie said. "They fired me simply for running
for public office in the city of Miami and expressing
certain political positions--that is outrageous and
unconstitutional.

Reaching out for support

"My supporters and I are reaching out for support here in
Miami, in Florida, and across the country. We urge other
defenders of freedom of speech--prominent civil
libertarians, unionists, farmers, Black rights
organizations, student groups, and others--to call on the
city authorities, who are responsible for enforcing the law,
to demand that Goodwill Industries reinstate me. We can get
broad support, including among those who don't agree with me
on different political issues."

He added, "If Goodwill gets away with its victimization of a
worker for the advocacy of ideas, other employers will try
to do the same. This is an attack on the rights of all
working people. Our goal is to make it harder for bosses to
fire anyone for expressing ideas they disapprove of."

Italie, who was interviewed in Spanish by Channel 51 across
from the plant gate, talked with a number of his co-workers
as they came out of work, and handed out a sheet explaining
the facts and soliciting support.

Dozens of workers took the fliers and many gave him a
friendly response. "Mike is a good worker," said a
33-year-old sewing machine operator who is originally from
Haiti. He said he had been surprised when he heard Italie
had been fired October 22.

"Bosses here sometimes yell at us, and then they claim we
don't have a right to object to their abuse," said another
worker, who said he too was against the U.S. bombing of
Afghanistan.

'Trying to suppress certain views'

A number of supporters of Italie's fight attended the press
conference, including Kevin Blair, an organizer for the Farm
Labor Organizing Committee in Florida; activists in the
Miami Coalition to End the U.S. Embargo of Cuba and the
Antonio Maceo Brigade; and other workers and young people.

Andrés Gómez, national coordinator of the Antonio Maceo
Brigade, stated, "It's important to coordinate this effort
and make it national. It's outrageous for a candidate to be
fired and deprived of his job for expressing political
views. This action by Goodwill is a dangerous one."

Sidney Royal, a retired health service worker who is Black,
stated, "It's only certain views this company is trying to
suppress." The company doesn't want workers to oppose the
U.S. war on Afghanistan and anti-Arab chauvinism, he said.

Italie said that although the general election is over, the
fight against the political firing has just begun. The
mayoral race will continue with a runoff election on
November 13 between two wealthy Democratic politicians,
Maurice Ferré and Manuel Díaz.

The previous Saturday night, November 3, some 40 people
turned out for a special Militant Labor Forum to protest
Italie's firing. Volunteers began showing up at Italie's
campaign offices early in the afternoon. Heather Page, 20,
and Aldo Nahed, 24, who have been involved in the fight from
the start, helped paint banners and signs and set up the
meeting hall. Two students, Marcos and Janetsi Cutrera,
showed up with their father, Tony Cutrera, a Puerto Rican
worker who is a supporter of the Cuban Revolution. Tony and
Janetsi, a high school student, helped translate defense
literature while Marcos, a sophomore in college, designed a
display of media coverage on the case and then videotaped
the evening program.

The crowd included other young people who had attended one
or more of Italie's campaign events on campus. Participants
also came from an ad hoc coalition that has called several
protests against the U.S. war against Afghanistan; the Miami
Coalition to End the U.S. Embargo of Cuba; and Alianza
Martiana, a grouping made up mostly of Cuban-Americans who
oppose the U.S. embargo against the island.

Part of assault on working class

Ernie Mailhot, a meat packer from Seattle and a leader of
the Socialist Workers Party, noted that the Goodwill bosses'
firing of Italie is part of the assault on workers' rights
that is accelerating as Washington escalates its imperialist
war against Afghanistan. To achieve its goal of imposing a
stable U.S. protectorate in that Central Asian country, he
said, Washington "is going to have to use ground troops. As
they bring back bodybags, they will try to whip up a
patriotic war campaign to a high pitch."

The most important resistance to the U.S. rulers' war aims,
Mailhot said, is the working-class struggles that are
unfolding around the country, from the strike by meat
packers in Toppenish, Washington, to the protests against
police brutality in Florida. In targeting workers like
Italie, he added, "what the bosses are concerned about is
this resistance that's beginning among our class."

Mailhot, who was active in the workers movement in Miami for
more than a decade, recalled that he himself was fired from
Eastern Airlines in 1987 after running for mayor of Miami on
the Socialist Workers ticket. He received the support of his
co-workers and his union and won his job back. Two years
later, workers at Eastern waged an important battle against
the company's union busting.

Italie explained that Goodwill had sent workers home early
the day of his first news conference, held October 29
outside the plant, so they wouldn't be able to talk to him
or the press. "They went to workers in my old department
individually and told them not to take any of my
literature." The company sent guards and supervisors out to
instruct workers to refuse Italie's handouts. Most workers
ignored the order.

Response to mayor's charge of 'treason'

The socialist candidate responded to a statement by
incumbent mayor Joseph Carollo that Italie's ideas are
"treasonous." Italie said such a statement is an attempt to
intimidate anyone sharing his views. "The advocacy of
ideas--including socialist ideas--is not a high crime
punishable by law. I call on the mayor to retract his
statement and for all the other mayoral candidates to join
me in that demand," he stated.

"My party filed a lawsuit in 1973 against FBI spying and
disruption. In more than 40 years of spying, they were never
able to prove a single illegal act on the part of the
Socialist Workers Party. Through the lawsuit, on the other
hand, it was proved that the government's secret police had
flagrantly violated constitutional rights."

The audience watched a set of videos prepared by Nahed of
the three television stations' coverage of Italie's fight.
Orlando Collado, representing the Miami Coalition to End the
Embargo of Cuba, told those present, "This is an attack not
just on Michael, but on the working class. Michael's views
did not interfere with his performance of his job."

Also speaking was Max Rameau, representing Brothers of the
Same Mind, an organization in the Black community that is
fighting the state of Florida's denial of voting rights for
former prisoners. Earlier that day, Italie and members of
Brothers of the Same Mind joined a protest against the
police killing of Alphaeus Dailey, shot in his wheelchair
earlier this year.

Firefighters' case

Rameau pointed to the similarities between Italie's case and
that of three firefighters in this city who are
Black--William Clark, James Moore, and Terry Williams. The
three were removed from their jobs and placed on paid leave
shortly after September 11 when they removed a large U.S.
flag from their truck. They said the flag was obstructing
their view and noted it was a symbol of the oppression of
Blacks and others. Rameau said it was a victory that the
three firefighters were recently recalled to their jobs.

Heather Page spoke about what she has learned about
"democracy" in the United States through the war in
Afghanistan, Italie's firing, and other events. "I was
brought up thinking I was free," she began. "As I got older
I saw the injustices this government carries out.... We're
not free. They're not sticking by any of the rights they say
we have.

"They would like us to think that this reality cannot be
changed. Go out and tell people we're not powerless."

Sherie Bevel, a student at Florida International University
South and chairperson of the campus Philosophy Club, spoke
in a similar vein. "Keep speaking out!" she urged Italie.
"Let's let young people know it's their birthright to speak
and think."

Juan Carlos Zamora, representing the Alianza Martiana,
called for Italie to "exercise his right to speak his mind
without fear."

Supporters agreed to meet the following Thursday to draw up
a plan of action to win broader support. More than $400 was
raised for the defense effort in cash and pledges.

A number of supporters of Italie's fight have begun
circulating a petition, which was presented and discussed at
the November 3 forum, to demand that the Miami mayor and
city commissioners put pressure on Goodwill Industries to
reinstate Italie. Among the dozens of initial signers are
eight workers at a meatpacking plant in Ft. Lauderdale.
Several of these workers signed even though they do not
share Italie's stance on the U.S. war in Central Asia or on
the Cuban Revolution.

Italie was fired October 22 a few days after participating
in a televised candidates' forum at Miami-Dade Community
College, attended by 400 students and faculty. He was the
only candidate to present a working-class platform and speak
out against the imperialist invasion of Afghanistan.

Goodwill CEO Dennis Pastrana told the Miami Herald in an
October 30 article that Italie was fired "to preserve the
integrity of the flag that we produce...without having
influences in our organization that are contrary to the
American way of life." The company, which calls itself a
nonprofit establishment and received federal subsidies,
manufactures military uniforms and U.S. flags. It is
notoriously antiunion and pays many workers well below the
minimum wage.

A constitutional firing?

The firing and the decision by Italie and his supporters to
protest the political victimization have sparked a growing
debate in the media and political circles.

In an article in the October 31 Miami Herald, the president
of the Greater Miami chapter of the American Civil Liberties
Union (ACLU), Lida Rodriguez-Taseff, was quoted as saying,
"Employees don't have a First Amendment right to express
their political views if they work for private employers.
Employers have a First Amendment right to associate with
people who have political opinions they approve of." Her
assertion echoed Goodwill's position.

On November 6 the Herald printed a letter to the editor from
Marc Silverstein of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. "This political
firing is a complete violation of our First Amendment
rights," said Silverstein. The local ACLU chapter "has
decided not to support Italie because it says it is not
unlawful for an employer to fire a person for his or her
political views. This is clearly unjust and must be changed.
All civil libertarians and people concerned with free speech
and the rights of workers should support Italie's campaign
today."

John Due, an attorney and longtime civil rights activist,
issued a statement objecting to the local ACLU chapter's
stance. "We cannot permit so-called private organizations,
such as Goodwill, which is a public charity with federal tax
exemption, which has a license from the city and county to
operate, to hide behind claimed private property rights to
chill the expression of free speech. To claim that such a
case is not winnable is the same excuse used by the Justice
Department for failing to protect the human rights of civil
rights activists in Mississippi in the 60s."

On November 7 the Herald published an article, titled
"Forced patriotism is oppression," by columnist Robert
Steinback, who has frequently written on issues of civil
liberties and Black rights. Steinback wrote, "Italie's
firing, in a word, stinks.... He was fired for what he
chooses to believe" (see 'Forced patriotism is oppression').

The same day, radio commentator Francisco Aruca discussed
Italie's firing during his popular morning program on Radio
Progreso. Italie called in to speak about his fight and
answer a few questions by Aruca. Several people who heard
the program later called the Socialist Workers campaign
offices to express their support.

A talk show host in Ft. Myers, Florida, called Italie after
hearing the program, and arranged to do a live interview
with him November 10.

Statements demanding Italie's reinstatement and donations to
cover the costs of this campaign for justice should be sent
to the Committee to Defend Freedom of Speech and the Bill of
Rights, P.O. Box 510127, Miami, FL 33151-0127.

http://www.themilitant.com/2001/6544/654402.html