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VOLUME 6, ISSUE 7 • JULY 2001

Narrow vision

Tarnishes Peace Officer badge

I came to the Academy with ambivalence. My work in the Lowell neighborhood has led me into trusting relationship with several area officers who we turn to for help in creating safe living conditions. However, as Program Director with the Fresno Center for Nonviolence, I’ve been familiarized with many problems that community members--especially minorities--have had with police. My hope in attending the Academy was to reconcile the paradoxes of these experiences.

Overall, I was impressed by the officers who came to our classes. They were well-trained and dedicated. They showed pride in their work and the forward-thinking of the F.P.D.I was surprised to find how much knowledge (technical, legal, logistical) officers are required to have. From the classes and even from the uneventful afternoon I spent on a ride-along with a patrol officer, I gained a distinct picture of the unceasing mundane pressure, as well as the extreme crises, that officers have to cope with day after day.

On the other hand, from the very human presentation (with the officers feeling free to share their frustrations and limitations)patterns emerged as to how the police think about their work and the people they encounter. Here several troubling tendencies became apparent that explain, at least in part, the discrepancies between "the two faces of the police "as I know them.

First there is an on-going refrain about "the 95% good guys "and "the 5% bad guys "who are responsible for crime; and about "group profiles "(who is likely to commit which variety of crime, or use which drug.)This kind of thinking is understandable under the pressure to act according to probabilities when confronted with time and manpower constraints.

Still it concerns me when this police folklore is repeated as truth. It needs to be institutionally countered with reality check: any of us is capable of crime; habitual criminals are capable of NOT committing crime at a given time, and even of acting with decency; "groups "may have customary practices, but individuals superficially associated with a particular group may not conform to the group norms.

Our lecturers also related stories indicating an apparent department-wide mind-set that public safety is threatened primarily by individuals acting out of private motives like malice, greed, anger, and compulsion. I heard nothing to indicate that police training involves any systematic or sociological analysis of the conditions under which crimes are enacted: what factors pre-condition antisocial behavior, and what specific events tend to trigger it.

Furthermore, there is no distinction made between individual law-breakers and citizens engaged in "disturbing the peace "for political reasons that are not criminal in intent.

They readily become guardians of established interest rather than being true public servants. Thus in the case of the GAP protesters at Fashion Fair a year ago--police saw their duty as confronting the demonstrators as if they were "bad guys ". There was no understanding of the social context.

A related problem emerges from the esprit de corps natural to any group facing continuing adversity together. While the officers freely admit that they are capable of mistakes in judgment ("we’re only human"), there seems to be no awareness that unstinting support for the brotherhood leaves little room for objectivity. Impartiality is required in evaluating individual officers ’behavior or the effects of police policy and procedure on the course of events.

Finally, I comment on the delight shown in the "tools of the trade ", and especially high-tech capabilities which tend to blur the distinction between soldiers and police officers.

It is completely understandable that police should appreciate technology that makes their work safer and easier. But (comparable to the case of high-tech medicine) there is a trade-off between the cost of technology for the extreme situations versus investment in the basic, unglamorous services of prevention and community building —the tasks that really justify the title Peace Officer.

There needs to be much more dialogue with, and significant input from, other sectors of the community. If this is done, I would expect the police to be a better-appreciated, less adversarial partner in our civic society.

from painting by Maia Ballis

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*Herders names have been changed to protect the vulnerable

I let my eyes wander, first to the shabby, marginally utilitarian trailer in front of me (appearing slightly more modern than a nomad’s hut, if only for the builder ’s choice of materials), and then to the trio of black and white sheep dogs near my feet, lying in self-made trenches to mute the effects of both the merciless heat and the unrelenting gales bursting through the grasslands.

The canines, whose barking had shattered the ancient silence just minutes before when I and my two companions arrived, had lost all interest in their human visitors and were now busying themselves in a lethargic pursuit of the innumerable flies surrounding the trailer.

My eyes found, leaning against the make shift home, a shovel that I knew (through previous explanation) served as the only toilet for the trailer’s occupant and near that, the free-standing water tank that contained all of our host ’s bathing and drinking water.

Remembering the conversation and the purpose for my visit, I returned my gaze to the people standing just a few feet away from me: my escort and director of Central California Legal Services Chris Schneider, his colleague Maria Elena Martinez Gutierrez, and the resident of the trailer whose situation was the reason for our presence, Juan, a Chilean sheepherder recruited to work in California with an H-2A visa.

Maria Elena just asked Juan about the best experience he’s had in the year since he came here. He answered, "Nothing," that he didn’t have one. Chris translated for me, alleviating my uncomfortable ignorance of the Spanish language. "Now she asked about his worst experience. He replied, ‘The loneliness.’"

Chris continued to interpret the informal interview for my benefit, relating that holidays were the saddest times for Juan, as he had to face them (as he does every other day of his life here) in total isolation. When Sandro worked in Chile, he shared a large house with other sheepherders who were a consistent source of companionship.

Now, in America, he counts himself lucky if there is another camp nearby on a holiday so he can stop by and say "Happy New Year " or "Merry Christmas." Not surprisingly, neither his foreman nor the rancher he works for have ever visited Sandro to wish him a happy holiday.

For Chris and Maria Elena, this tale of loneliness is nothing novel. As members of Central California Legal Services (CCLS), they have heard innumerable heart-breaking stories from the sheepherders whose camps dot the Valley ’s hillsides and fields. Unlike myself, they know firsthand that the deplorable working and living conditions in Juan ’s camp are unique only in that they are not nearly as difficult to stomach as many others they have visited.

Juan, and the other workers like him, are working in America under the H-2A guest worker visa. For the sheep ranchers to be able to claim a need to pool labor from sources outside our country, they have to be able to prove that there is a shortage of workers available locally.

"I think if the Silicon Valley ran an ad in the newspaper looking for workers in the computer industry and they had to be at the work site twenty-fours hours a day, seven days a week, they would have no communication with anyone outside the work site, and got paid a thousand bucks a month, I think you’d find that there’s a shortage of computer workers here in the United States," comments Chris about the reason for the alleged shortage of local workers.

The recruiting interests of the sheep ranchers are represented by an organization called the Western Range Association (WRA), whose practices include seeking out the most impoverished communities they can find (mostly in Peru but also in Chile and Mongolia) for potential workers. The WRA is able to use the fact that they aim for the economic nadir to justify the conditions the sheepherders face while working here in America.

After all, no matter how bad it gets here ,reasons the WRA, it’s still an improvement over the homelands of their workers. And they have found no shortage of interest among potential recruits; the prospect of making more money in America has convinced many to leave their families for the lonely three years required by the H-2A contract.

The plight of H-2A sheepherders in the Central Valley has weighed heavily on Chris Schneider since his first encounter with the problem. In 1990,while he was working for California Rural Legal Assistance in Delano, Chris was approached by two former sheepherders who told him that they had been fired for requesting better conditions from their employers.

"I sat down and had an interview with them," relates Chris, "When they started describing the conditions to me, how they lived, that they ’d have to drink the same water that they gave to the sheep, that they’d have to get their water out of the trough, there was no bathing facilities or toilet, the refrigerator didn’t work.

"Quite frankly, I thought these guys were exaggerating. I thought, Okay, I’ve got a couple of guys here that are disgruntled and are really painting a bad picture."

Sadly, the workers’ account of their live/work environment was all too accurate. Continues Chris, "I went out to see some of these camps. [The workers] took me out, and I found that what they had described to me was an understatement. I was just amazed at how bad the conditions were. That was surprising to me because before that I had spent fifteen years working for the farm workers union and I had seen some pretty amazing situations."

The woeful inadequacy of the sheep camps’ conditions, though, only revealed a portion of the injustice suffered by the workers. When Chris began to distinguish exactly what kind of case he was dealing with, he realized that, based on the pay that the sheepherders had reported, he was looking at a mammoth minimum wage violation claim.

At the time, the workers were getting paid $600 a month, a mere fraction of the minimum wage. Chris thought they were entitled for the hours they put in. (Sheep herders are required to be on the work site 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and, in most cases, 365 days a year. They are considered "on-call "at all times. During the lambing season, September through April, workers report laboring a minimum of 13 hours a day. Dealing with what he thought was a straightforward (and seemingly winnable) lawsuit, Chris had no idea he was about to hit a brick wall.

The Industrial Welfare Commission (IWC), the group that sets the minimum wage and standards for working conditions, had determined the "minimum "wage for sheepherders by asking the ranchers how much they were currently paying their workers and then, based on that figure, a wage was set that could not be decreased. Sheepherders were explicitly excluded from IWC ’s Wage Order 14,which controls wage levels for all other farm laborers. Chris’s petition to eliminate this exemption was quickly denied.

Though he soon lost contact with the two workers who originally sparked his interest in the issue, Chris has continued to visit the Valley ’s sheep camps on a regular basis and has compiled evidence to support legislation improving their conditions. Aside from the level of squalor that is visible even to a casual observer, Chris has, through talking with as many workers as he can find, assembled a mountain of what he calls "anecdotal information "that describes a prolonged history of labor rights abuses in the sheep industry.

Chris implores before his voice trails off. He has found this depiction to be consistently typical with the workers he has encountered. It ’s clear that their state of near helplessness has impassioned him to ensure that this issue is a priority for the state.

Early on in his work for California Legal Assistance, before he began working for CCLS, Chris met a worker in a Wasco field who was eager to talk but requested he come back after dark for fear that the rancher or grower might spot the two talking.

Chris returned that night and, as the sheepherder was describing the discrepancy between what he thought America would be like and the reality of his situation, tears began to well up in his eyes.

Whenever they would hear a truck on the road or see a pair of headlights, the worker would dim his kerosene lantern to the point of invisibility because, had he been discovered talking to an outsider, he would have been immediately fired.

For someone like him, a man here on a guest visa who possessed no knowledge of the language of the land, termination of employment would mean deportation and having to break the solemn promise he made to his family to work in America for the required time.

As evidenced by the first two sheepherders that Chris met, complaining about working conditions to the bosses carries the same punishment as talking to the outside world. Perhaps more damning,

though, is the fact that the same fate meets those unfortunate enough to become hurt on the job.

"I’ve got a client in Bakersfield who injured himself, asked to be taken to the doctor, and the grower wouldn’t take him. He’d say, ‘Oh, you Peruvians are just lazy; you’re always looking for an excuse to get out of work.’ Finally, [the worker] couldn’t work anymore so the grower took him in to town, dropped him at a hotel and the next day le migre showed up."

Since it is common for the growers to keep their workers’I-94 documents, which show that the individual is in the country legally, the Bakersfield worker was unable to prove his status and spent the next three months in jail. Often times, growers will simply send complaining or injured workers back to their homelands themselves.

Other times, the workers just get beaten.

Pedro, now in his seventies, has labored as a non-H2A worker in California for over twenty-five years. Originally from Mexico, he has been a fixture of the industry for such a long time that he is often granted privileges that other herders lack; for instance, he gets a day every so often. Chris met him several years ago and there is clearly what can be considered a friendship between the two.

A couple of Christmases ago, Chris’s daughter suggested that they make cookies to deliver to some of the local sheepherders, including Pedro, since they wouldn’t be getting any visitors otherwise. Pedro was so moved by the gesture that six months later, when he was given a free day, he rode the bus into Fresno to thank Chris at his office.

Chris, Maria Elena, and I spent much of our day together scouring the Valley for Pedro. We found him purely by chance at a camp we stopped at just outside of Avenal and were greeted at his door with a loud, pleasant greeting. According to my companions, Pedro has the nicest, most spacious abode they have seen at a sheep camp though, truthfully, it is no larger than a walk in closet and lacks electricity and running water. While Maria Elena and Chris talked to Pedro (part official work, part friendly catching up), he would continually look at me while he was responding.

I considered it a sign that he was including me, the stranger, in the conversation though, honestly, I was too embarrassed to try to explain that I didn’t speak Spanish. Even without the advantage of literal comprehension, I was able to understand the feelings that he was expressing, if not the words themselves. After they had finished talking, Pedro explained that there was another herder nearby and that, since he was getting ready to take the water truck to the local pump to reload, he would lead us part of the way there. There were several people already at the pump when we arrived an apparent mixture of hired hands and supervisors. Though he gave us directions, Pedro in no way hinted that he knew us as anything more than lost tourists. The consequences for violating one of the strictest work rules, even for this seasoned veteran, could be dire.

Two years ago, Chris decided that it was time to put the anecdotal information he had been collecting for a decade into a form that could materialize the argument he already knew to be true. He figured that the best way to present his evidence was in the shape of a standardized survey that would be taken to as many sheep camps as he could find and then published as a final report. The leg-work would be both daunting and time consuming, and wholly necessary.

"At the same time, I got a call from someone who worked at Radio Bilingue and she said, ‘Chris, I’ve got this volunteer here who was an attorney in Mexico, but she doesn’t speak any English. Do you think there is anything she can do at CCLS?’" Chris explained the type of work he had been doing with the sheepherders and asked Maria Elena if she would be willing to go out and conduct interviews with them onsite. She agreed and got to work.

Maria Elena could not have been more perfectly suited for the role designed to flesh out the feelings and experiences of the workers. She seems to have an uncanny ability to get the herders to talk, no matter what their inhibitions.

When we first arrived at Juan ’s camp, he was expectedly very cautious in his responses to the questions that Chris posed. Juan stood with his arms folded, offering at most one or two word answers to the queries. As soon as Maria Elena began talking, however, his whole posture changed. He began to laugh and tell stories about his life in Chile.

He joked about his dogs. He explained how he had purchased a television and car battery with his own money and figured out how to wire the two together. He expressed how much he missed his brothers and sisters back at home. In short, he opened himself up to her. And she was able to utilize this gift to interview forty-one workers in less than two years.

The survey was based around several questions relating to the types of treatment the workers had been receiving. Included were questions like "Since you began working here, have you ever had a day off?" and "Have you ever been to a restaurant or movie?" Overwhelmingly, the answers to these questions were "No." Chris was not surprised by the findings as they supported what he had already discovered in ten years of informal conversations. What he had now, though, was something tangible which he could use in his fight for the sheepherders.

The report was published last March under the name "Suffering in the Pastures of Plenty: Experiences of H-2A Sheepherders in California’s Central Valley." The results of the report are astounding. Here is a summary of some of the findings:

The unsettling evidence contained in the report has resulted in a surge of public interest in the lives of the sheepherders. Chris credits this increased attention with a decrease in the opposition’s power and its ensuing promising developments.

Recent activities by the California legislature have generated mixed feelings among labor activists. Last year, when the IWC began considering raising the minimum wage hearings were held to discuss removing some of the current exemptions to the wage law. Chris and other worker advocates began bringing injured and fired sheepherders to the hearings to testify about the lifting of their specific exemption.

Victor Flores, president of the Sheepherders ’Union and a former H-2A herder himself, was the first to testify. In a moving display, Victor detailed one of the many reasons why increased worker protection is so vital:"[W]e suffer psychological abuse for having asked for better food, because they’d only give us two cans of milk per week ,they gave us five pounds of potatoes per week, they gave us canned beans, all expired dates. They gave us contaminated water that they took from the irrigation wells. They didn’t give us clean water. And as a result, many of the sheepherders, Peruvians, Chilenos, Mexican, Spanish, suffer from stomach illnesses."

Late in the year, the IWC voted to raise the minimum wage and lifted every exemption except one: the exclusion of sheepherders from any real wage protection. The board’s reasoning behind their decision was that they wanted to further investigate the issues of both pay and working conditions for domestic sheepherders. Too little too late, says Chris: "By doing that,[IWC ]ensured that these workers would go another six months without any real improvements."

The IWC appointed a wage board to study the problem. The board was composed of equal parts ranchers and worker advocates. The outcome was an obvious draw.

In the aftermath of the wage board debacle, the labor representatives offered a monthly figure that they had, knowing that the commissioners would never approve anything approaching minimum wage for the workers, cautiously placed at an embarrassingly low level, about $1000 less than another farm laborer would earn for the same hours worked. Perhaps more embarrassing for the system designed to protect workers’ rights, however, is the fact that the IWC voted down even this insufficient sum.

Eventually, the commission reached a compromise and a wage lower than the labor advocates had hoped for was approved. The result is a raise, effective July 1st 2001,that will increase the monthly sheepherder wage from $900 to $1050.Also included in the agreement is a second increase to $1200,which will go into effect in July 2002.

What was not included in the compromise, even though the IWC postponed lifting the exemption specifically to have time to study the issue, was any decision about improving the working conditions of California sheepherders.

In fact, IWC commissioner Doug Bosco, who in December said he supported waiting on a decision so that both issues could be further investigated, inexplicably voted down both proposals to better wages and working conditions.

Luckily, labor advocates are capable of a fair amount of craftiness themselves. Late last year the AFL-CIO, the Sheepherder Union, and the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation convinced Assemblyman Paul Koretz of West Hollywood to amend one of the bills that he had pending and redraft it into a sheepherder bill to improve working conditions.

The bill, titled AB 1675,contains six provisions for the health and safety of the workers:

1) Toilets will be required at all work sites. Toilets available now, even at Luis ’s luxurious abode? A shovel and an endless expanse of dirt.

2) Bathing facilities will be supplied for all workers. Facilities currently provided include a small, round aluminum vat, a beer keg-sized tank that drinking water is also extracted from, and the endless delight of being naked in the great outdoors. (Chris and assistant Eduardo Stanley recently peeked inside one of these tanks and found that a layer of slime coating its sides and the top of the water.)

3) All trailers or fixed housing units must have heating during the winter. Sad reminder of the hostile opposition to improving workers’ rights, the labor advocates had to nix the inclusion of air conditioning for fear that the bill would not pass.

4) Should the bill become law, employers will be required to ensure that their workers receive regular mail service. Currently, most of the workers’ mail first has to go through their bosses hands, trampling any notion of an employee’s inherent right to privacy.

5) For emergency use, telephones and/or radios will be made available to the sheepherders. Responding to ranchers’ claims that that the workers will misuse their phone privileges, the bill includes a proviso that if a phone is used for personal use, the employer has a right to be reimbursed for the actual cost of the call. Chris Schneider: "It’s okay for the growers to abuse the workers, but don’t let the workers abuse the cell phones!"

6) Any time a worker is required to perform work unrelated to herding sheep (i.e. transportation, cattle ranching, welding) he will be paid the same as someone regularly working in that field.

The bill passed through the assembly labor committee and on Monday, June 4th,AB 1675 was passed by a majority in the general state assembly.

It will now be sent to the appropriate committee at the state senate level and if the bill is successful there will go before the senate floor.

Organizing Sheepherders as Difficult as Herding Cats One of the toughest problems facing advocates of sheepherders’ rights is the difficulty in organizing a group of individuals in situations devoid of any communication devices, secure mail service, and stability in location.

"Generally, workers don ’t like to give their boss a letter addressed to Legal Services and ask him to drop it in the mail box," explains Chris, "That ’s just not going to happen." And, due to the quasi-nomadic nature of sheep herding work, finding someone more than once in the same place is generally unlikely.

During our tour of the South Valley, Chris and Maria Elena had a purpose other than schlepping me around for a firsthand look at the sheep camps. Their primary objective for the trip was to deliver informational fliers that explained the workers ’rights concerning their wage increase.

(Knowledge of the raise seemed to have found its way around the camps, as many were already aware of it.

Pedro found out about it from his boss, who told him, "You ’re going to be rich now." To this, Pedro replied, "What do you mean I’m going to be rich? You’re the one that’s rich. We’re poor.") Fliers also included information about the legislation pending in the state senate, ensuring that the workers are aware of what’s at stake.

Surprisingly, television may be an increasingly useful tool in disseminating information to the herders. Chris and the work done at CCLS have been featured on local Spanish-language channel 21, a station apparently more in tune with workers’ rights than its English speaking counterparts. Since miniature TV’s are now relatively cheap, many of the workers have purchased one to help quell their unending isolation.

Before Chris even started speaking to Juan, he was recognized by the Chilean from a segment on the recent hearings. Acknowledging the power of a television broadcast, labor advocates may begin requesting service announcements from channel 21 as a way to inform the workers, and everyone else in the community for that matter, about recent developments in their case.

You may have some interest in assisting the fight for improved working conditions and higher wages for the state’s sheepherders. You can start by writing a letter to your representative in the state senate requesting their support of AB 1675.Further, you may wish to recommend that the legislators focus their "fact finding missions" on visits to sheep camps with worker advocates, not with the ranch owners.

AB 1675 will soon be in the hands of the Labor and Industrial Relations committee for their consideration. Committee members that would love to hear the opinions of well-meaning and sincere Californians: Richard Alarcon, Rico Oller, Liz Figueroa, Sheila Kuehl, Bob Margett, Tom McClintock, Richard G.Polanco, and Gloria Romero.

Politicians, immigrant rights activists, and concerned citizens rallied for the right of all drivers, without regard to their legal status to have a license. The demonstration, held in front of the Department of Motor Vehicles in Fresno, supported AB 60 which was introduced by Assemblyman Gil Cedillo. Speakers at the rally, including Cedillo, Leonel Flores of the local Amnesty Coalition, and Assemblywoman Sarah Reyes told the 200+participants that changing the law was an issue of public safety.

"Unlicenced drivers endanger everyone. Without adequate testing, a driver may never learn the rules of the road," said Reyes. "Receiving a California Drivers License ensures that all drivers learn proper driving techniques." The rally was organized by a broad coalition of local groups including the Community Alliance, No Nos Vamos, Pan Valley Institute, SEIU Local 250 and many others.

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MATCHLESS MATCHERS: We go to press prior to the date of our anniversary, but we will be announcing at that time that the $6000 matching fund challenge has been virtually met. Thanks to all our old reliables, and the many new ones who helped us make the match.

Now comes the fun part...deciding how to use the money. We have set 3 dates for "house parties "to discuss goals and priorities with our supporters. The gatherings are set for 7:30 p.m. on Thurs., July 19 (at the Center), Wed. Aug; 1 (at Angela Price ’s home, just north of Valley Children ’s Hospital), and Tues.Aug.14 at Margaret Hudson’s "estate "in Old Fig. If you can help us plan our direction, call Angela (after July 12) at 435-6383 to RSVP and get directions.

Lavery aboard: Vincent Lavery has been elected to our Board, as media coordinator. In the past year, Vince’s drive and creative spirit have enabled us to undertake a monthly share of STIR IT UP!; the weekly TV show THE RIGHT STUFF FROM THE LEFT; and the Central Valley Institute. Vince also serves as our Secretary and ambassador to Ireland. We are delighted to add Vince to our working collective and to our letterhead.

Transforming thems to us ’all: The difficulties of creating alliance across community barriers (as in peace community, African American community, GLBT community, Latino community)became a topic of debate and frustration at our June meeting.

The result is an evening of "Building Bridges Across Cultural Barriers ",to look at what ’s gone right and wrong in our outreach attempts, and more importantly what more to do. The hope is to build on the success of our Black/White dialogue group and create a "next generation "of bridge-building enterprises. Please join us for what promises to be an intense and productive workshop ,on Thurs. July 26,at 7 p.m. Kehinde Solwazi and Sudarshan Kapoor will facilitate.

TIME =$$$: The Center has become the first official agency member of The Time/Dollar Exchange, an extended barter club where members earn time/dollars exchangeable for goods and services from any other member. The Center will be earning time/dollars by providing meeting space and by recruiting club members. In exchange we can request volunteer services from individual members who will thereby earn their own time/dollars.

The Center may be able to spare some of our time/dollars to other groups in need of one-time volunteer help (e.g. child care or set-up for an event clean up, special mailing). If your groups can use this kind of volunteer assistance call Richard at 266-2559.For direct contact with the Exchange, call Jeremy Hofer at 445-4166.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 11, 3:30p.m.-STIR IT UP -KFCF 88.1 F.M. Monthly call-in show hosted by Vincent Lavery and Richard Stone.

SATURDAY, JULY 14, 9:30A.M. Monthly Board meeting at the Center.

THURSDAY, July 26, 7:00 p.m. Building Bridges across Cultural Barriers. Workshop for Planning ways to make the Center a better ally to other constituencies.

EVERY SATURDAY, 10:30 P.M. THE RIGHT STUFF FROM THE LEFT. Cable 10 -Channel 43. The Liberal/Progressive voice in the desert of Valley television.

EVERY MONDAY -7:30P.M.discussion on upcoming: The Right Stuff from the Left -at the Center.

$$$RAISER IN AUGUST: date to be announced. An evening of Irish genius, featuring Vincent Lavery performing excerpts from: THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING OSCAR, based on the life of Oscar Wilde. For info call Lavery, 559 439-0821.

Keep your TV show alive -The only liberal/progressive oasis on the Central Valley’s television desert. See for yourself (Saturdays at 10:30 PM, Ch 43/cable 10) and then send your check made out to FCNV to P.O. Box 16133, Fresno 93755.

THE WELCH REPORT

Jack H.Welch,M.D.

A group of Witnesses for Peace delegates went to Colombia this year, providing an unprecedented show of US solidarity with the people of Colombia and the Colombian peace movement.

They heard subsistence farmers share tragic stories of how US-funded anti--drug fumigation has destroyed food crops and poisoned their wells.

They took testimony from brave human rights activists, labor organizers and others who told them that US funding has escalated the war, threatening ongoing peace efforts.

"The US has responded to the spiral of destruction by massively increasing military assistance to the Colombian army...almost a billion dollars of direct military aid...The Colombian army is among the most abusive in the world. Fully half its officers have learned their torture techniques at the US Army School of the Americas."

Since 1976 Colombia has bowed to US pressure, experimenting with various highly toxic chemicals, many of which now are illegal. "Toxic herbicides have been sprayed over coca and poppy fields, doing substantial damage to food crops, banana plantations, community water sources and damaging the health of the people. Despite this, net coca production has increased almost 100%since 1980,and the US street price for cocaine has dropped 400%," indicating increased supply.(Source: Stanislaus Connections May 2001)

A member of the From Violence to Wholeness program participated in the Witness for Peace delegation to Colombia and co-led a series of nonviolence trainings while she was there.

"Before going to Colombia, I was overwhelmed by the stories of violence that I heard; by the torture and execution of human rights workers, teachers and labor leaders;...and was depressed by the rape and destruction of the fragile Amazonian environment caused by the fumigation efforts." 85%of the rural population of Colombia live in absolute poverty (earning less than $500./year)!

But having gone to Colombia and listened to the human rights workers and others, "I can say that I have a new sense of hope. Looking through the lens of active nonviolence...I saw two things: an incredible organization and resilience of a people and their nonviolent struggle for dignity ",despite "at the same time the system of economic greed and injustice seeking to destroy them."(Source: Pace E Bene ’s From Violence to Wholeness program spring 2001)

The above, of course, is describing the US War on Drugs. In my private practice of medicine I had experience in treating persons who were drug--addicted.

In the early 1970s in Los Angeles I saw and treated some 150 heroin addicts (with methadone, in part). This experience confirmed for me the greater importance of treatment (and, preferably, prevention)of drug addiction over efforts to curb the supply side, which latter can succeed only when demand is reduced.

ACTION: urge President Bush to change the course of US policy toward Colombia in the direction of providing more War on Drugs funding for prevention and treatment in the US.202-456-1111.

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Wed 4 There will be no board meeting in July.

Wed 25 "Stir It Up " WILPF--style. Tune in to KFCF 88.1 FM from 3:30 to 4 p.m. with hosts Lauralee Crain Carbone and Zay Guffy-Bill.

Wed 1, 7 p.m. Board meeting at Carol Bequette’s,3747 Circle Drive, West. Along with regular business, we will be planning the upcoming August retreat. Call 229-9661 for more info.

Sat 18, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. WILPF branch annual retreat at Carol Bequette’s, 3747 Circle Drive, West. Call 229-9661 or 227-2133 for details.

If you’re receiving the Labor Community Alliance newsletter because you’re on the Fresno branch WILPF mailing list, you will only be receiving the quarterly Catalyst in August. Your Catalyst page will return in the Labor Community Alliance newsletter in September.

One danger of attending WILPF cluster meetings is that when I hear what other branches are doing, I often say to myself, "Wouldn’t that be a great project for us!" So when some branches reported at our last such meeting that they were working with coalitions to obtain a "living wage " for workers on government financed projects, I said to myself "Wouldn’t that--" (see above).

Anyone interested in working in this effort, contact me and we’ll attempt to form a coalition, hopefully with labor activists, to pursue this goal of bringing economic justice to workers who subsidize our quality of life.

The second project that was approved at our last Board meeting comes from the WILPF National Legislative Office. It has come to their attention (surprise!) that Diane Feinstein and George Radanovich have bad records on our issues.

This makes us eligible for membership in their exclusive project EYE on Congress. The WILPF database shows there is a large enough presence of WILPF members in California and in Radanovich’s district to organize and work together to make a real difference.

For the next two years our branch will help publicize the pro-military, anti-people stands of these two legislators so that their voting records are well known by the 2002 elections. Again, let us know if this political project is something you can help us with.

"The New Colossus "

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

July 4, 1886, a year before her death at 38, Emma Lazarus recited her sonnet, "The New Colossus," at the dedication of the Statue of Liberty. Lazarus, herself a Sephardic Jew, was prominent in her role as head of an organization providing relief for Jewish immigrants.

As a far reaching, militaristic nation, the U.S. has done its share to create staggering numbers of homeless exiles with its international war and conflict policies.

This July 4th please think about recommitting yourself as an even stronger presence for peace and justice work locally, nationally, and/or internationally. Fresno branch WILPF or any of the other wonderful organizations around are an excellent way to act on your commitment.

Let people around the world know that the U.S. military and its government do not represent most of the U.S citizens’ sensibility when it comes to violence and strong-arm tactics.

At our last branch board meeting,officers for the new term were elected.They are as follows:

Coordinators Carol Bequette/Zay Guffy-Bill

Program and Action Desi Cortez

Recording Secretary Jan Slagter

Treasurer Lauralee Crain Carbone

Membership Barbara Nelson

Literature Laura Fultz

Publicity not filled

Telephone Nora DeWitt

Historian Ellie Bluestein

If anyone is interested in the position of Publicity chair, please contact Zay Guffy-Bill at 227-2133.

If you’re a WILPF member, we encourage you to submit any information you have and want to share with other members call or email Zay at 227-2133/zaygb@earthlink.net. And thanks to this month’s contributors for the wonderful info they provided.

Central California Criminal Justice Committee will meet Monday, July 9,6:30 PM Sarah McCardle room on second floor of the downtown library This group, which has been investigating racial profiling and setting up a citizens police review board, is looking for greater community participation. Call Rebecca at 225-7627 for more information. Central California Criminal Justice Committee has concluded four public presentations by representatives of police civilian review groups in 4 California cities.

The information given was extremely valuable and is available for viewing on video tape from Rebecca. We will also have written summaries of the presentations available. Our next step is reaching out to organizations and individuals in the community to join us in evaluating the various forms of police review that have been presented and preparing a system that would best fit our needs here in Fresno.

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The KPFA Local Advisory Board (LAB) held a "Community Needs Assesment" meeting in Fresno June 16.KFCF 88.1 FM rebroadcasts KPFA ’s signal in Central California. One LAB member from the Bay Area (out of 20) attended the Fresno meeting. Mark Hernandez, who is on the KPFA/LAB and lives in Fresno, led the meeting. Several KFCF board members were also in attendance. What they heard, by and large, is that listeners love the progressive political news and analysis they hear on KPFA and would like KFCF to continue providing air-time to local programers. LAB members were encouraged to ask KPFA to carry more stories about events in Central California and it was suggested to have a show produced in Fresno that would be broadcast on KPFA so Bay Area listeners had a better understanding about the issues and politics of this area.

An important part of the meeting was a discussion of the ongoing problems with the Pacifica National Board. Money is urgently needed to support a number of lawsuits that are being conducted to take back control of KPFA and return the network to its original peace and social justice mission. Supporters were urged to join CAMPAIGN 3000 which is looking for 3,000 listeners to contribute $100 each to support the Free Pacifica Legal Action project. For more information about how you can help, call the KFCF office at 233-2221.

Three KFCF board members announced their resignation at the June 16th meeting. Catherine Campbell, Dixie Salazar, and Sari Dworkin who are all identified with the Community Radio Coalition, left because they believe that their opinions were not valued on the board. Several speakers thanked them for working so hard to make KFCF a progressive/grassroots community radio station. they were presented with a bouquet of flowers, and received a loud round of applause. KFCF supporters are now asking how these board members will be replaced, what role (if any) KFCF subscribers will have in the process, if any members of the CRC will become board members, and if the ethnic balance of the board will be changed to reflect the community. Stay tuned!

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Love Letter to KFCF/KPFA