U of M Labor and Community Strike Support Committee

Dear All,

In 1973 on this day, the democratically elected President of Chile,
Salvador Allende committed suicide rather than submit to the brutal
humiliations sure to follow in the wake of a CIA, that is, Nixon
organized coup d'etat that destroyed his government. A defeat, to be
sure, but one that reminds all of us how fundamental, how grave, the
stakes are whenever people rise up in confrontation with those who
thrive on their exploitation. It is easy to make struggles over
wages in rich countries seem considerably less grave. Indeed this,
sadly, is the business of most contemporary journalism in the
North. Our business as educators then must be to restore the
dignity, the gravity of the effort to radicalize democracy, not by
imposing it upon others, but by making palpable where it can be made
more present for us all. The members of AFSCME are pointing this
effort in a crucial direction: that of the living wage in a
sustainable world system. Respecting this is only half the story,
let's do what we can to contribute.

To use an old phrase that mattered to those who elected Allende:
hasta victoria.

Yours,
John M.