Fifth Estate 102, April 2-15, 1970 Add to the Bookbuilder

The postal workers’ strike exploded like a time-bomb across the nation. Beginning in New York City, and spreading quickly through every major city in the country.

The massive revolt defied court injunctions, Presidential orders, and the miserable sell-outs in the union bureaucracies. The workers were beyond the control of legal actions and of their union “leadership.” They went out to demonstrate that they intended to win.

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The struggle for political power within the United Auto Workers Union between the League of Revolutionary Black Workers and the entrenched, conservative, white bureaucracy continued at the recent elections at Dodge local 3 of the Hamtramck Assembly Plant.

Held March 18 and 19, in the shadow of the grey, ugly plant on Joseph Campau, the incumbent leadership of local 3 turned to ballot stealing and cheating to insure the continuance of their racist leadership in the predominately black factory.

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STAFF

Debbie Brentz

Steve Dunn

David Gaynes

Alan Gotkin

Mike John

Keep on Truckin’ Co-op

Jim Kennedy

Lee Ann Kennedy

David Levison

Rick London

Nick Medvecky

Bruce Montrose

Claudia Montrose

Harvey Ovshinsky (dig this!)

Dave Riddle

Bill Rowe

Eddie Silver

Marilyn Werbe

Peter Werbe

Cathy West

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They’re throwing a peace march April 15. Why come to another demonstration? Because it helps pressure Nixon to bring the troops home. Bringing the troops home will do two things: it will save a lot of American and Vietnamese lives and it will mean the success of the Vietnamese struggle for national self-determination.

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American Civil Liberties Union, 961–4662

Ad Hoc Citizens Committee (Police Brutality Complaints), 872–2828

Creem Magazine, 831–0816

Detroit Anti-war Coalition, 873–4322

Fifth Estate Office, 831–6800

Fire Department, 962–0400

Grape Boycott Office, 825–4811

Metro, 832–5126

National Lawyers Guild, 871–1251

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On April 15, millions of people across the world will take to the streets to demand that the United States end its aggression against Vietnam and immediately withdraw all of its troops. In Detroit, the Coalition to End the War has called for a mass march, rally and local school strikes. The Fifth Estate endorses this call and asks all of our readers to join with the staff in participating to the fullest extent possible.

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Her pallor of skin and her gauntness (both doubtless accentuated by the austerities of the Weatherman life-style) and her cool light blue eyes behind gold frames put me in mind of the woman in Grant Wood’s “American Gothic.” Her vibrant contralto voice and sensuous mouth suggested a tremendous courage for struggle and love.

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“To the accusation that Cuba wants to export its revolution, we reply: revolutions are not exported—they are made by the people.”

—Fidel Castro, Second Declaration of Havana, 1962

Another witch-hunt is underfoot. The late ‘60s and moreover the ‘70s are beginning to reek of McCarthyism. The latest example of repression and red-baiting is exemplified by Sen. James Eastland’s charges that Venceremos Brigade Volunteers acquired guerrilla training in Cuba.

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Accused persons in Detroit Recorder’s Court have been tried and, in many cases, found guilty by juries of which Blacks, other minority group members, Southern-born, foreign-born, working-class people, ADC mothers, students, bearded males, and persons convicted of moving traffic violations have been systematically and discriminatorily excluded from serving on.

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In a virtually unprecedented move, Reverend Robert Morrison, rector of St. Joseph’s Episcopal Church, has called for the resignation of Richard Emrich as diocesan Bishop of Michigan, calling him “unchristian, inhuman and irresponsible.”

This call comes in the wake of the decision of the Episcopal diocese of Detroit to cut off funds for Reverend Morrison’s church because he allows the Gay Liberation Front, a homosexual group, to meet at the Church.

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ALBANY, N.Y. (LNS)—New York has joined the trend set recently by Hawaii in changing antiquated abortion laws.

The State Senate voted here March 18, 31–26 in favor of a sweeping abortion reform bill, which if passed in its present form by the State Assembly, will remove virtually all restrictions on obtaining an abortion in New York, including residency requirements.

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NEW YORK (LNS)—Those castrating bitches are at it again. Give ‘em an inch...and they...er...never satisfied...just gave ‘em a cover story...back for more....

Newsweek’s cover story on women’s liberation had just hit the stands when 46 women on the staff filed a complaint Monday, March 16 with the Federal Government charging that Newsweek had violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964—which prohibits “segregation, classification, and/or limitation of an employee” on the grounds of race, color, religion, or sex.

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NEW YORK ( LNS) “Never Underestimate the Power of a Woman” runs the slogan of Ladies Home Journal, a monthly women’s magazine with a circulation of seven million.

Over a hundred radical women barged into the magazine’s editorial offices March 18 to bring substance to that slogan, demanding a liberated issue of the magazine.

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from The Great Speckled Bird

Radical women across the country are demanding an end to the male supremacist attitudes and policies of the underground press. It is essential that these demands be recognized and met as a political priority; not only for the women who are struggling against male supremacy in this country but for the Movement as a whole.

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Buenos Aires, Argentina—Members of the Argentine National Liberation Front (ALF) bargained on March 25 over the exchange of two government-held political prisoners for their own political hostage, the Paraguayan Consul to Argentina.

If the release was not made, the ALF pledged to assemble a firing squad and off the diplomat.

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Broadly conceived, ecology deals with a balance in nature. Inasmuch as nature includes man, the science basically deals with the harmonization of man and nature. Ecology is an integrative and reconstructed science in that it deals with the most radical systems of political economy.

This intrinsic characteristic of ecology, carried through to all its implications, leads directly into anarchic areas of political and economic thought.

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WABX DJs Larry Miller and Dave Dixon both emphatically deny the report of last issue that they came to blows over station policy. “The real miracle of the station is how well we work together,” Miller said. Sorry fellas, we had thought that the info came from a “reliable source...

The ad for the Chicago Conspiracy trial that appeared on the back page of our last issue was refused by the Chicago Tribune, the San Francisco Chronicle and the Los Angeles Times. Several other major dailies did accept the ad...

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LOS ANGELES, Calif.—An Air Force Academy graduate, Richard T. Hubbard, under orders to go to Vietnam on March 30, says he will risk courtmartial and endanger his professional career as a physician rather than obey those orders.

Hubbard is a practicing Methodist whose home town is in Mt. Gilead, Ohio. As a result of his religious background, he is morally against the war. Hubbard stated, “I am opposed to the War on an emotional basis...I am opposed to military life on a religious basis...I accept nonviolent resistance as a form of Christian Witness.”

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MANNHEIM, West Germany—In a violent clash with military police, imprisoned G.I.s staged a massive riot at the Army stockade in Mannheim, West Germany. On March 19^th, the U.S. Command there fought with imprisoned soldiers for 5 hours and the reported damages inflicted on government property amounted to $10,000.

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Washington, D.C.—After nine months of pre-trial hearings, a date was set today for the trial of anti-war sailor Roger Priest. Priest, the first serviceman to face court-martial for statements made in an anti-war newsletter, will stand trial in Washington on April 14^th, the day before the nation-wide demonstrations against the war.

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On November 9, 1969, the GI Press Service placed in the New York Times an advertisement signed by 1,365 active duty servicemen. The ad announced the GIs’ support for the November 15 demonstrations in Washington and San Francisco, and called for the immediate withdrawal of all American troops from Vietnam.

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Charles Costa, an Inner City slumlord that lives in Southfield, has a habit of always trying to grab the media limelight. Through his hustling, Costa has gained a favorable reputation with Detroit’s straight papers.

Among the people that he exploits in this community, however, he is branded for the pig that he is. His latest publicity ruse is to offer a 20 cent bounty on dead rats to all local residents.

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The government of the Bahamas has recently instituted a so-called courtesy campaign aimed at making the natives more respectful to the American and European tourists who frequent the islands. The program is, in effect, one of the most fascist official proposals from a government since apartheid became a way of life in South Africa.

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Behind the surface appearance of every beauty contest, from Home Coming Queen to “Miss World,” exists an entire framework that represses and objectifies women. That framework had produced the idea that exposing one’s flesh, with proper techniques of body exhibition, is a desirable skill, to be rewarded with prizes and tribute.

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America moves closer to a labor crisis as other unions enter or poise for strikes throughout the country. Air travel has been seriously crippled by the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) walk-out in many major U.S. cities, and they have affected air travel throughout the world.

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Dear Friends:

The murders of Fred Hampton and Mark Clark in Chicago have awakened many Americans to the campaign being carried out against the Black Panther Party throughout the country. Since April 1968, 28 Panthers have died and countless others have been imprisoned. But the “search and destroy” operations against the Black Panther Party do not always take such dramatic forms.

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Dr. Eugene Schoenfeld speaking at Community Arts Auditorium, May 28, 1969 at a benefit for Open City. Photo: Alan Gotkin.

Dear Dr. Schoenfeld:

About restaurants that prohibit nude feet. Am assuming hygienic rationale: Are shoes more hygienic per foot?”

ANSWER: Shoes are more likely to track in disease from the street than bare feet. Some restaurant owners cite health codes but the truth is they just don’t like barefooted customers.

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in Cooperation with Detroit Adventure

THURS APRIL 2

JOHN SINCLAIR, White Panther Party Chairman, appears in Recorders Court at 9:30 am to seek an appeal bond on his marijuana case. Come and show your support! at Frank Murphy Hall of Just-us, Gratiot and St. Antoine.

They’re making REMARKS ON THE PERSONALITY OF MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI in the Det. Inst. of Arts Lecture Hall (for $2.50 no less). “They” are psychoanalysts Richard& Editha Sterba. 2:00 p.m.

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