On Wed, 26 Jan 2000, Wojtek Sokolowski wrote:
> At 09:29 AM 1/26/00 -1000, Steve Philion wrote:
>
> >Wojtek, How is killing god knows how many innocent persons (thanks to the
> >lack of decent legal aid access afforded the poor) going to do anything to
> >solve the problem of racisim in the US? Or that guy's racist attitudes
> >and actions...?
>
>
> Of course it will not. But how does defending these guys, even though
> those who got a raw deal? This is more of an issue of getting a fair trial
> - a principle that even respectable conservatives would support, so why
> should it be central on the agenda of a labor movement?
>
In US history, not a few labor activists have been executed on trumped up charges. We don't defend anyone who commits murder, but a left solution to the problem of crime should be different from a right wing one. I can think of no period in history that the death penalty has been anything other than an outright mechanism of social control of the have nots.
I mean, gosh, tax cuts help some poor people too, but few of us on the left fall for the 'well intentioned' rhetoric that is used to justify them. Nor do we recommend it as policy to solve real social problems.
Steve