Capitalism failed in Greece

After the demonstrations against austerity measures that would make the Greek working class pay for the capitalist crisis, reactionaries here talked about the failure of socialism and disorder caused by the bankruptcy of a welfare state.  Here is an article from Anasintaxi (http://anasintaxi-en.blogspot.com) about the real failure of the capitalist leaders of Greece, the Greek revisionists, and the predatory, capitalist EU. 

 

Crisis and the bankruptcy of Greek economy

Anasyntaxi [Movement for the Reorganization of the Communist Party of Greece 1918-55]

In the last five years, a steep deterioration in the condition of the Greek economy has been observed – a destructive course that has eventually led to bankruptcy, contrary to the completely unsubstantiated claims of both the big bourgeois and the Khruschevite parties.
       Side by side with the objective economic laws, the implementation of the most extreme neoliberal financial policy by the reactionary government of Karamanlis intensified even further the already existing problems of the Greek economy, aggravating basic economic indicators.
       In 2009, the condition of the Greek economy became aggravated to the very extreme point that the government of Karamanlis was not able to work out the state budget – an economic situation characterized by very high inflation and successive waves of high prices, rise in mass unemployment to around 15% and rising rapidly, a drop in industrial and agricultural production, a tremendous deficit increase to over 14% of GDP (more than 30 billion Euros), an increase of the external debt to an overwhelming level, around 120% of GDP (more than 300 billion Euros).
       The problems of the Greek economy have deepened even more with the outbreak of the global financial crisis. However, it has to be noted that the crisis of the Greek economy preceded the global financial crisis, since it had already hit, first and foremost, the construction sector, which, as it is known, is linked to a series of industrial branches.
       The overwhelming external debt and the very large deficit led the Greek economy to bankruptcy, resulting in the country becoming the "weak link" of the imperialist European Union (EU) and the object of concerted attacks of international speculative and usurious capital – attacks related not only to the Greek economy, but also to the Euro, in the context of the Euro-Dollar antagonism.
       In 2009, the terrible financial condition and bankruptcy of the Greek economy led to the "changing of the guard," initially the removal of Karamanlis's government and subsequently the defeat of his party in the elections as well as the entry of the country into supervision, initially by the organs of the imperialist EU, and subsequently by the triple austerity plan of the Commission-European Central Bank (ECB)-International Monetary Fund (IMF), that is, it led the country to a new occupation, without military presence.
       The new measures consisted in unprecedented decrease in wages and pensions, increase in indirect taxes, etc. and attack on social security rights (an increase in retirement age limits, low pensions, etc.) by the "troika" of the Commission-ECB-IMF, in agreement with the new social-liberal Papandreou government, which deepened the proletariat's absolute degradation to the extreme and annihilated in one night all the gains of the working class. In response, the working people participated in strikes and massive demonstrations, even though the reformist leaders of GSEE-ADEDY (General Confederation of Greek Workers-Civil Servants' Confederation) declared the first general strike very belatedly, the first on May 5, and the second one on May 20.
       Yet, despite the massive participation of working people in the strikes, there has not been UNITY on the level of gatherings and demonstrations during strikes, resulting in the obstruction of their MASSIVENESS and the undermining beforehand of the working people's struggle against these unprecedented measures. The UNITY of strike rallies is a presupposition of MASSIVENESS. MASSIVENESS cannot be achieved without UNITY, an issue directly connected to the strikebreaking role of the reformist leaders of PAME (the trade union controlled by the "Communist" Party of Greece-"K"KE).
       The strike-breakers-reformist leaders of PAME – through the permanent fragmentation of strike rallies with their separate gatherings – in the past helped the government of the monarcho-fascist party of Nea Dimokratia, with C. Karamanlis as prime minister, to promote and implement all the anti-popular and anti-worker measures; today, by continuing the same disruptive tactic in strike rallies, they are in the service of the government of the big bourgeois PASOK, and they are helping-enabling it to pass the present annihilating measures. For it is not possible for the reformist leaders of PAME to not understand that with their disruptive tactic they immediately break the UNITY of strike rallies, obstruct their MASSIVENESS and thus render the strike rallies INEFFICIENT beforehand.
       The new, even more annihilating measures, that were taken and "sucked dry" the poor, that it are being planned to be passed for the social security slaughter of workers' rights with the further looting of THEIR OWN MONEY, with the elimination of provisions in health and pensions (the class callousness of cutting two pensions per year had already preceded this), those that the extortions of the imperialists will continually demand, cannot be repelled by the working people if there is no MASSIVE UNITY, which are the qualities that can make strike rallies EFFICIENT, that is, capable of defeating or holding back the attacks of capital. This was evident in the case of the great strike rally of the reformist GSEE-ADEDY, which was the only efficient one, forcing Simitis's government to withdraw the draft of the bill for Social Security in 2001. Now, the messages of the spontaneous worker and popular response are the same. The great strike of May 5, with a gathering of 250.000 people in Athens alone, smashed in practice the rationale of isolationism, disruption of unity and strike-breaking. The participation en masse of working people within the union blocs, the gathering was UNIFIED and showed the way for the working class to win demands: the way of militant unity. The militant voice and action of the working people, the unemployed, the youth, the pensioners, was overshadowed by the throwing of a Molotov cocktail into a Marfin Bank branch office, which, regardless of the intentions of those who threw it, caused the death of three young working people: this is a reactionary criminal act, completely alien and hostile to the workers' movement. The responsibilities of the banker Vgenopoulos and Marfin Bank, who must be brought to court, are also tremendous (since they blackmailed the workers to go to work, they "locked" the door of the bank while the workers were inside, etc.).

The working people showed once more the way to confront the crisis:
·       Capitalist industrialists and bankers must pay from their fabulous profits, along with all tax evaders
·       Business taxation must be increased from 20-25% to 35-40%, with a further increase in taxation when businesses fire workers and do not invest productively
·       The fabulous landed and other property of the Church, which does not belong to it, must be taxed in its entirety
·       Indirect taxes hitting exclusively the broad lower masses must be decreased
·       Direct taxation must place the burden on the capitalists, also natural persons, without affecting the tax exemption of the poor
·       Military expenses must be decreased drastically

We demand unilateral suspension of usurious debt payments – Withdrawal from the EMU-EURO with an immediate prospect of withdrawing from the EU

In contrast to the fabrications of the government and bourgeois politicians that "the country has not gone bankrupt, along with the Khruschevite social-democrats "K"KE (Khruschevite-Brezhnevites) and SYN (Coalition of the Left of Movements and Ecology – Euro"communists"), who are also disputing the existence of bankruptcy (Papariga – "K"KE: "they are bringing back the scarecrow of bankruptcy," "R" April 23, 2010, p. 6, Tsipras – SYN: "the tale about the dragon of bankruptcy is nice," "Eleftherotypia" March 14, 2010), bankruptcy is a concrete and painful fact.
       An analysis of the relevant economic data can only reach the conclusion that the figures show indisputably the bankruptcy of Greek economy:
1. an overwhelming external debt of more than 300 billion Euros, or about 120% of GDP (with a minimal to nonexistent industrial production, while even the "production" of waiters decreased with the fall in tourism since last year),
2. a huge deficit of more than 30 billion Euros or 14% of GDP,
3. a usurious 7-10% interest rate with spread of 500-700 bps (an interest rate that only bankrupt countries borrow at),
4. inability to service the external debt,
5. the triple austerity program by the Commission-ECB-IMF and designation of financial politics not by the elected government but by the delegations of the imperialist organizations, and
6. recourse to the so-called EU-IMF "support mechanism" for a further loan of 5%.
       The ND was the party that had been leading and led the country's economy to bankruptcy with mathematical precision, by doubling the external debt (more than 300 billion Euros) and multiplying the deficit by five (more than 30 billion Euros), leading to the country's triple supervision by the Commission-ECB-IMF, and has the first and major responsibility for this reason. But the then-opposition parties, the big bourgeois PASOK, and "K"KE and SYN (the Nazi-fascist LAOS had identified with the politics of ND), are tremendously responsible as well for not revealing to the Greek people this destructive financial course, which, for at least the final two years of ND's governing, was completely clear to the naked eye.
       The condition of the bankrupt Greek economy of today is bleak, and its prospect within the framework of EMU-EURO is at an impasse. The current bleak condition of the Greek economy has obviously led to the exposure of a series of bourgeois and revisionist myths (old and new) about the relationship between Greece and the EU, regarding 1) "equal participation in the EU," 2) "permanent growth within the EU," 3) "convergence of the EU member states' economies," 4) "permanent prosperity," 5) "decrease in interest rates," 6) "safeguard from bankruptcy," etc.
       With these negative developments in the Greece-EU relationship, the current complete deadlock of the bankrupt Greek economy, along with the fact that the big bourgeois PASOK government will not only multiply the annihilating anti-popular and anti-worker measures, but with the "gospel" of neoliberal financial politics in its hands, it intends to satisfy even more the lust of the speculators and loan-sharks and the IMF for the total looting of any remaining profitable sectors and savage looting of the country's overall wealth with the proportional destructive consequences, known to tens of other countries that fell into their clutches. The working class and the people must fight for the country's withdrawal from the EMU-EURO and the declaration of unilateral suspension of external debt payments (an issue discussed in "ANASYNTAXI" No. 313, January 1-15, 2010), in combination with the general struggle for Greece's withdrawal from the imperialist EU, a withdrawal that for the social-democrat Papariga (general secretary of "K"KE), at this moment "is not a solution in itself" ("R" March 5, 2010, p. 10) (it is the first "unwary"(?), but delightful and characteristic strip-tease by Papariga in favor of Greece staying in the EU, since the leadership of "K"KE claimed until now, of course for reasons of demagoguery, that they were in favor of the country withdrawing from it).
       The working class, the youth, the city and village poor, must fight everywhere, in each workplace, each space of education, residential area, and gathering place against the awkward Khruschevite social-democrats "K"KE-SYN, who deny the existence of bankruptcy and say not even one word about the tasks that derive from it, for the creation of a broad antifascist and anti-imperialist front, which will unite in the aforementioned goals of confronting the anti-worker whirlwind and in the struggle against suppression, the curtailment of democratic gains, the fascistization of public life, which are the necessary "tools" of capitalists and their political representatives in order to pass the measures of sordidness.

Events this week against Israel, rendition, and the US wars

Several events are coming up locally to demonstrate against Israel's massacre of internationals attempting to help the people of Gaza and the Obama Administration's support for Israel's actions, the lack of accountability for US policies of rendition and torture, and the US government's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, where the 1000th US soldier was recently killed, and the hidden wars in neighboring countries.  Korea should come up too, where the rightist south Korean government, the US, and Japan are working to renew the the Korean War, without much evidence that the DPRK is at fault.  There has been less attention to the recent incident in which Israeli soldiers destroyed the left eye of a non-violent American student from New York in the Occupied Territories.

 

6/3 in Durham: 

 

Stop Israeli Aggression! Break the Siege of Gaza! End U.S. Military Aid to Israel!
 
Jews For A Just Peace

Join us as we protest

Thursday, June 3
5 - 7 p.m.
Corner of Main and Gregson, Durham
(Brightleaf Square) 
 
ORGANIZE A PROTEST IN YOUR CITY

Show your support for the Freedom Flotilla, violently attacked by Israeli military forces
as its ships headed for Gaza carrying thousands of tons of humanitarian relief supplies.

Protest this latest in Israel's long line of violations of human rights and international law,
resulting too often, as it did again this week, in the deaths of innocent people.

Demand an end to the billions of U.S. tax dollars given to support Israel's military.

Bring friends, bring spirit, bring signs.

This call to protest is being organized by Jews for a Just Peace- North Carolina and friends.
[]
Please distribute information about this protest far and wide. 
 
NC PEACE ACTION IS A COSPONSOR           
 
FORWARDED BY NC PEACE ACTION  www.ncpeaceaction.org

[Since I wrote this, other demonstrations have been announced. Friday, 6/4 there will be a protest against the Israeli attack and the Gaza blockade at Peace & Freedom Plaza (in front of the Post Office on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill. This is sponsored by WILPF. And in Raleigh:

Join us as we protest in Raleigh

Friday, June 4
2:20 PM to 5:00 PM

Corner of Western Blvd. and Gorman St.

Starting from the Islamic Center of Raleigh we will walk down Ligon St.and Gorman St. ending up at the corner of Western Blvd. and Gorman St. where we will remain up to 5PM holding protest signs and calling out slogans against the Israeli aggression, arrogance, and violation of international laws, human rights, and for freedom of the Gaza strip.

For more information contact: Waleed Elhentaty at 919-369-8686

NC Stop Torture Now vigil Saturday, June 5 2-3:30 at the southeast corner of the intersection of Swift Creek Road and Business Highway 70, next to the Johnston County Airport, home of Aero Contractors, Ltd., which flew prisoners to countries where they could be tortured for the US government. 

[This has been moved to downtown Clayton, see www.ncstoptorturenow.net/calendar.html]

6/6 in Fayetteville: Join us for a peaceful, legal vigil and protest of the Israeli military assault on the Gaza flotilla, and the endless, pointless US war in Afghanistan.

Time: Sunday June 6 2010 - 3PM-6PM
Place: Fayetteville NC Market House downtown.
Sponsor: Quaker House
NOTE: RAIN OR SHINE-- the Market House has a covered atrium in case of a shower. (It's kept us dry before!)
Plenty of parking nearby. Map link: http://www.visitfayettevillenc.com/bigmap
Special Guests -- Drummers!
Exciting drum group "Original Nature" to highlight Fayetteville Peace Rally Sunday June 6 2010.
3-6 PM at the Market House downtown -- Spread the Word!
Favorites of Fayetteville's "Fourth Friday" evening festivals, ORIGINAL NATURE makes music for the heart, the mind, and the soul.   This "eclectic orchestra" utilizes drums, flutes, blocks, chimes, and a variety of  other indigenous instruments to invoke the 'natural ' spirit of music.  ORIGINAL NATURE'S performances are enlightening, motivating, and inspiring, with each song being created in tune with the moment and emotions of the group.   Therefore, each performance is different, and each song has the distinction of being made just for you---the audience.   The nature of the performance is  presented in its purest form, thus the performance is truly "Original."

Regular events:

There are weekly peace vigils Fridays 5-6pm at the corner of South Elliot Road and East Franklin Street in Chapel Hill and Saturdays 12-1 at Brightleaf Square in Durham.  There does not seem to be a weekly vigil in Raleigh now, but Mondays 5-6pm there is a vigil against the death penalty in front of Central Prison.   

In two weeks anti-war speakers will be addressing meetings in Durham, Chapel Hill, and Raleigh. 

TSF: Lenin against imperialism

The Tiangle Socialist Forum is putting on a short film showing and discussion 3pm Saturday, April 17 in the Chapel Hill Public Library's conference room to commemorate V.I. Lenin's birth (April 22).

Demonstrations to mark start of Iraq War

The Iraq War began March 20, 2003, so there will be several peace demonstrations against Bush and Obama's predatory wars this week. 

 

The Triangle branch of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom and Orange County Peace Coalition are vigiling in front of the post office on Franklin Street (Peace and Freedom Plaza), Wednesday, March 17th, 12 to 1pm.  

 

Friday is the Chapel Hill peace vigil, now on the Daylight Savings Time schedule of 5-6pm, at the corner of East Franklin and Elliot (by the Village Plaza shopping center).  It began back when the issue was the sanctions that were killing the Iraqi people (which still are in place to some extent), or possibly earlier.  

 

I think there is still a Durham peace vigil, 12-1 on Saturdays at Brightleaf Square.  

 

There will be a rally in Fayetteville at Market House/Market Square, 1-4 on Saturday, organized by the Quaker House.  For a map see  http://www.visitfayettevillenc.com/bigmap or call 252-323-3912   

 

ANSWER is organizing a large national event in Washington, but there don't see to be any buses going from the Triangle. 

 

There are also events around the US backed occupation of Palestine and immigration reform. 

 

March 16th Balance & Accuracy in Journalism (BAJ) is hosting three locals who were in the Gaza Freedom March in Egypt, and will talk about what Americans can do to end the Israeli occupation and brutalization of Palestine.  The meeting, Helping a Peace Process Emerge for Gazans, Israelis, and All the Rest of Us, is at the Community Church of Chapel Hill (106 Purefoy Road) at 7:30.  For information, call 942-2919. 

 

Copied from a calendar email:  "March for America: Immigration Reform for New American Families and Economic Justice for All American Families: 1-4PM, March 21, National Mall, Washington, DC.  14 buses leave NC: buy $15 ticket by March 15: Contacts:
  * *Raleigh*, El Pueblo, 4 N Blount St. Raleigh
    NC, *919-835-1525*.
  * *Durham*, El Centro Hispano, 201 W. Main St. Durham, NC.* 919-687-4635*; ggillis@ reformimmigrationforamerica.org/
  * *Charlotte*, Latin American Coalition, 4938 Central Avenue, Charlotte, NC 28205-6878,* (704) 531-3848*.
  * *Greensboro*, Faith Action International, 705 North Greene Street,
    Greensboro, NC 27401-2025,*(336) 379-0037*.
  * *Chapel Hill*, UNC RI4A, Wooten Gough,* 336-306-3252*
  * *Chapel Hill* RI4A, Juan Mejia,* 919-699-5673* http://reformimmigrationforamerica.org/ .  Buses leave about 5 AM March 21 and return by 1 AM March 22. Locations TBD." 

There are also some immigration talks this week. 

 

Apparently there is a movement to make March 15th Peter Francisco Day in NC, in honor of a great, but now little known, soldier in the Revolutionary War (there was an editorial in The News & Observer Saturday). 

 

 

Creek Week and National Wildlife Week coming up

Creek Week, an annual event celebrating Durham's waterways, is March 20 to 27th. The schedule is online at www.keepdurhambeautiful.org. There will be several trash cleanups on the 20th, replacing the regular Earth Day cleanups, workshops on how to adopt a waterway and use the public equipment, nature hikes, kayaking, art workshops using the trash collected on the 20th, a storytime for kids, and more events all week.

According to the Piedmont Wildlife Center (www.piedmontwildlifecenter.org) March 15-21 is National Wildlife Week, and they have some ideas about how to celebrate on their website, and information about an annual wildlife photo contest.

International Women's Day is tomorrow

International Women's Day, March 8th, is another day of action for peace and progress that began in the USA but is now more celebrated in other countries, as a day of action or as a holiday like Valentine's Day.  There are still many examples of oppression against women, such as the pay gap for doing the same jobs as men and lastate laws that allow the prosecution of a woman for a miscarriage, such as if she stays with an abuser (this story was on Democracy Now! last week).  There do not seem to be any events marking International Women's Day locally, but the Triangle branch of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, which both women and men can join, is celebrating International Women's Month and celebrating its 75th anniversary March 13th, 10am-12 in Chapel Hill.  For information, call 968-1888. 

Stalin died today in 1953

Today is the anniversary of Joseph Stalin's death in 1953, possibly caused by the pro-capitalist revisionists, who had already gotten into the highest positions in the Soviet leadership. There are two interesting articles on Stalin in the current issue of Revolutionary Democracy (www.revolutionarydemocracy.org), by Yuri Yemelianov and Moni Guha, a prominent Indian Marxist-Leninist who passed away last April, but they are not currently available online. Anti-communist propaganda taught as factual history in North Carolina's public schools, UNC, Duke, etc. about Stalin are exposed at Grover Furr's website (www.chss.montclair.edu/english/furr/politics.html#STALIN). Alliance ML also has many articles, but the new website is not quite finished.

Raleigh march for jobs Friday

"Date:Friday, January 15, 2010
Time:3:00pm - 6:00pm
Location:"Walnut Terrace Community Center (opening rally) then march to City Hall"
Street:111 West Lee Street
City/Town:Raleigh, NC

The Peoples' Empowerment Movement is organizing a MARCH FOR JOBS on Dr. MLK's birthday. At this march, we are fighting for a real jobs program and real solutions to the problems which plague our communities. We are demanding that the Federal government provide funding for a public jobs program which provides jobs for all at a living wage, benefits, and training for our futures. The challenges facing single mothers, including but not limited to: unemployment, lack of affordable childcare, and lack of transportation must be addressed.

Our communities are also being constantly harassed by police and our people are incarcerated en masse. Nearly a whole generation is locked up. As the banks are getting bailed out and billions of dollars are going to corporations and wars, we are struggling to meet even our most basic needs. 10.7% of the North Carolina population is "officially" unemployed, and over 15% of African Americans are "officially" unemployed. However, these numbers only account for those who are actively searching for jobs, and do not take into account those who are not actively seeking for jobs or are underemployed. The real unemployment rate is about 30% and the real unemployment rate for people of color is much higher. The unemployment rate for urban youth of color is as high as above 50%!

In order to address these issues and other issues of racism and injustice in our community, we must unify and fight back. We are also calling a march for jobs on Friday, January 15, 2009, the Friday before Martin Luther King Day. Join Us! The March will start with a rally at the Walnut Terrace community center at 3pm.

Then we will march to Raleigh City Hall (corner of Dawson St and Hargett, downtown) around 4:30pm, or so. We then hope to deliver resumes from youth from all over Raleigh who are demanding jobs, as a symbolic act. Join us and bring your resumes too! We NEED and are READY for jobs! The government is the only roadblock!

We will then march to the state office that oversees the Federal stimulus money, the Office of Economic Recovery and Investment at 221 East Lane Street.

Sponsors include:
Peoples' Empowerment Movement
Raleigh F.I.S.T.
Workforce Empowerment Alliance Community Team (W.E.A.C.T.)
Black Workers for Justice youth
Raleigh City Workers Union, UE150
Black Workers for Justice, Raleigh chapter
Fruit of Labor singing ensemble

For more information or to endorse call 919-701-9871"

The lynch mob mentality lives in North Carolina

Apparently a number of people in the Triangle prefer lynching to the judicial system, and say it loud. Shortly after Demario Atwater and Laurence Lovette were accused of killing UNC Student Body President Eve Carson, a student on a non-political UNC listserve I'm on said the suspects should basically be lynched in The Pit, and he left that listserve rather than stop bringing up political issues. That could be understandable if the student had a personal connection to Carson, but now the defense is asking to move the trial out of state because the accused won't get a fair hearing, in part based on online comments. There doesn't seem to be very much public outrage about Abhijit Mahato, the Duke graduate student who also might have been killed by Atwater and Lovette, and what about murders of NCCU students and others in North Carolina? Some online comments say Atwater and Lovette should be charged with hate crimes, but it seems to me that race and class of the most popular victim and the alleged perpetrators is the reason some people would prefer to dispense with the justice system. I don't recall anyone saying that Michael Peterson should be lynched for murdering his wife. Maybe it isn't surprising, when people have also openly advocated [in letters to the editor] nuclear genocide against Somalia because of a few pirates and said different races can't be trusting neighbors, though the Triangle does not usually appear that racially divided.

Meanwhile, Governor Bev Perdue is cynically using the prison system to improve her poll numbers. At one point the General Assembly passed a law that reduced the amount of time in a life sentence and the prison system gave credits for good behavior, so some prisoners who are pretty old were about to be released last year. Then Perdue and the News & Observer focused on this, and Perdue said she will not allow the prisoners to be released, even defying the courts, if they rule against her, and saying she would go to jail instead. Any demogragraphic can commit a crime, but Perdue acts like these rather old people are scary criminals who will certainly commit violent crimes again. If rehabilitation isn't the goal of the prison system, the government might as well use the death penalty for most crimes, since imprisonment and rehabilitation won't work [as Perdue seems to believe].

This demagoguery is more of the same from a rightist Democrat like Perdue, who also supports paying companies to locate in North Carolina and wants the state to be more of a base from which Obama can launch wars of aggression and CIA torture flights. The News & Observer generally supports the Democratic line and often riles the public up against prisoners and "illegals."

[ I might not have been fair to the N&O, which has published good articles on prison issues and the treatment of undocumented immigrants. But I've noticed that some recent articles from national sources published in both the N&O and the Herald-Sun have titles that tilt to the right in the N&O. ]

More on the Durham Human Rights and Bill of Rights Proclamations

Below is the Proclamation passed by the City Council on the 21st.  A similar "resolution" (the term preferred by the County Attorney) was passed by the County Commissioners on the 14th, 1-4, with Chairman Michael Page against.  Unlike in previous years, the resolution was not read aloud, and BORDC has yet to receive a copy of the official document. 

 

The Herald Sun reported on controversy at the meeting (see  http://www.heraldsun.com/pages/full_story/push?article-Bill+of+Rights+resolution+spurs+spat%20&id=5163081-Bill+of+Rights+resolution+spurs+spat&instance=homefirstleft).  According to the article, Page wanted to delay the vote until there is a resolution all parties can agree to.  Ellen Reckhow and Becky Heron said Durham is not trying to deport people, but if you run a red light in front of a police officer, you will be stopped.  I doubt the absence of racial profiling is that guaranteed, and hasa board overseeing the 287g program been established, as the program itself calls for in each participating county?  Anyone could be undocumented, but a rogue rightist police officer could harass Latinos more than other groups, in the hope of finding non-citizens as well as intimidating and driving off the rest of the immigrant community, documented or not.  At least profiling isn't the official policy in Durham, as it appears to be in some parts of the State, where law enforcement apparently has set up traffic stops around Catholic churches on Sundays.          

 

The City Council mostly agreed to the language requested by BORDC and DISC, but refused to say the Durham Police will accept Mexican Matricula Consular as identification, though apparently they already do accept it and these cards are reliable IDs.  They are issued by the Mexican government to their citizens living here and presumably in other countries.  In the fifth statement, Durham says it will not use 287g to deport people for minor things, and at the end the Proclamation says the police will use 287g "primarily" against felons, though the groups were requesting that 287g "exclusively" focus on felons. 

 

Human Rights and Bill of Rights Day Proclamation

December 21, 2009

Whereas, the City of Durham is home to a diverse population, including students, working people, and retirees, citizens and non-citizens, all of whom add to Durham's cultural richness and economic vitality; and

Whereas, the City of Durham is committed to the human rights of all of its residents, and to actions that both protect and preserve those rights; and

Whereas, the City of Durham respects and recognizes the civil rights and liberties guaranteed to all by the Bill of Rights; and

Whereas, on October 20, 2003, the City of Durham adopted both the Bill of Rights Defense Resolution and Resolution #9046: Supporting the Rights of Persons Regardless of Immigration Status; and

Whereas, the City of Durham has for the past six years endorsed a policy whereby an individual's civil immigration status shall not be inquired about unless that individual is being investigated for suspected involvement in serious criminal activity; and

Whereas, it is the policy of the Durham Police Department to endeavor to assure that an immigrant driver is no more likely to be arrested during a traffic stop than any other driver stopped for a similar cause; and

Whereas, the City of Durham recognizes the importance of maintaining a climate of acceptance and solidarity, thereby decreasing fear and promoting the cooperation of all residents with law enforcement;

Now, therefore I, William V. "Bill" Bell, the Mayor of the City of Durham, North Carolina do hereby proclaim December 22, 2009 as "Bill of Rights Day" in Durham, and hereby urge all the citizens of the City of Durham to hereby reaffirm their support of the Bill of Rights and of the civil rights and liberties it guarantees to all residents of Durham, and pledge to continue our City's policy of non-discrimination on the basis of ethnicity, race, national origin, and immigration status, and continue to pledge that Durham's 287(g) participation will continue to focus on primarily on felony investigations.

Witness my hand and the corporate seal of the City of Durham, North Carolina, the 21st day of December, 2009.

William V. "Bill" Bell

Mayor

Bill of Rights Day Proclamation at City Council Monday

The City Bill of Rights Day Proclamation will be presented at the meeting tomorrow at 7pm in City Hall.  It will be accepted by the Director of El Centro Hispano, Pilar Rocha-Goldberg, but there will be a delegation from DBORDC and DISC.  This should happen at the beginning of the meeting, as usual, instead of being delayed until the end of the meeting like the County Proclamation was this year.   

Obama's Nobel and Human Rights Day

Ironically Obama accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on Human Rights Day, the anniversary of the UN General Assembly's proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/), December 10, 1948.  Obama's speech (the transcript, unfortunately divided into six pages, is online at www.nytimes.com/2009/12/11/world/europe/11prexy.text.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2) uses high-flying rhetoric, but supports the domination and exploitation of the world by American imperialism, in alliance with the weaker imperialists in Europe and elsewhere, starting with the lie that war is an inevitable part of human nature. 

 

Obama said that war started with humanity, but war is political and its nature changes with different stages in the development of human society.  War was probably unknown or rare for most of human history, many tens of thousands of years, because there was nothing for wandering hunter-gatherers to fight over and the population was very dispersed.  Later most of humanity settled down and turned to agriculture and developed class systems, leading to war over resources and prestige.  War isn't caused by "evil," a concept more commonly used by Bush. Rational reasons can explain irrational violence, so there is no need for Obama to bring in religion, as he did repeatedly.  Obama also said humanity developed laws to limit war, but it seems to me that war in the 19th century was often less brutal than war now.  Under modern total war, hinted at by Sherman during the US Civil War, civilians and their property are targets and not just collateral casulties, because states can't fight without their industrial home front.  When the imperialists clash again and try to ignite World War III, they might use their nuclear weapons and kill millions.  The US, Israel, and other countries have few qualms about killing civilians in attacks on cities (Falluja and Gaza come to mind) or through sanctions (Albright said the death of Iraqi children was worthwhile), as long as they can hide it or blame their opponents.  Theories of "just war" seem like just another way to justify war, so the people will willingly fight for the interests of the elite, and against their own interests.      

 

Obama praises Woodrow Wilson, who violated his campaign promises and took the US into a war between two equally bad sets of imperialists who had nothing to do with the American people, and portrays the League of Nations and the UN as only tools for peace.  In a way the UN promotes peace, but look at the way the UN is dominated by the imperialists in the Security Council.  As a result, the UN acted as cover when the US fought to dominate Korea during the Korean War, the UN enforced sanctions that killed a million Iraqis, the UN does nothing to stop US wars of aggression, and it does nothing when Israel violates international law and the UN's own resolutions.  The UN, Marshall Plan and other international structures were tools the US and its allies used to fight the working class and national liberation struggles around the world, later in alliance with the Soviet and Chinese revisionists.  The Marshall Plan and other international economic structures have also been good at transferring wealth from other countries to the USA, so our economy can run on credit while sending real industry overseas.  

 

Early in his speech, Obama advocates the lie of American exceptionalism, saying that "Whatever mistakes we have made, the plain fact is this: The United States of America has helped underwrite global security for more than six decades with the blood of our citizens and the strength of our arms."  He refers to Germany (which the US, UK, and France divided, while the USSR was for a reunified, demilitarized, neutral, and even capitalist Germany), Korea (where the US committed atrocities against civilans and was allied with a military dictatorship until recently), and the Balkans (where NATO manipulated the just demands of various nations for self-determination to launch an imperialist war against Yugoslavia and now prevents Albanian self-determination).  It also needs to be asked, whose security the US is  really defending, and I think it it is the security of the multinationals and pro-US governments, whether elected or not.  The imperialists had to improve the economies of countries like the Republic of Korea (which not long ago faced the more developed DPRK), as bulwarks against socialism, and now those countries might be allowed to decline, just like social welfare spending is no longer necessary to make capitalism look better than socialism.   

 

Obama praises self-determination and freedom, but decries the secessionism that followed the Cold War.  Self-determination is only real if a nation has the right to independence, not that it has to decide to excerise that right.  It is only natural that nations wanted to be free from the domination of social-imperialists or other occupiers, and there are still unfree nations in the USA and Europe today.   

 

The USA and every country has the right to defend itself, but the invasion of Iraq was not self-defense, and I doubt that even the invasion of Afghanistan would count as self-defense unde international law.  The alleged 9/11 terrorists were not from Afghanistan and they trained in the USA, and it seems that they were helped by people in the US government and allied governments.  The Taliban was not the government of Afghanistan and was originally an ally of the US and Pakistan, and even offered to extradite Osama bin Laden.  According to a Pakistani official, American officials told him the plan was to attack Afghanistan in October 2001, before 9/11 provided a justification.  NATO is an aggressive alliance controlled by the US and originally aimed against the socialist bloc and the West European working class, but Obama praises it as a force for peace. 

 

Possibly going even beyond Bush in justifying imperialism, Obama endorses former British Prime Minister Tony Blair's concept of humanitarian intervention, under which the imperialists can meddle in the internal affairs of a country.  I doubt this means the US will attack Israel to liberate Palestine, or liberate the Tamils in Sri Lanka, occupy the DR of Congo to stop the civil wars, or stop using the base on Diego Garcia, which the British stole from the native inhabitants.  Obama mentions "rules of conduct," such as the prohibition on torture, but he has not ended extraordinary rendition, under which prisoners can be sent to other countries for torture and his Administration is covering up war crimes committed under Bush. 

 

He praises the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treat, under which the superpowers got to keep their weapons, and now it is being used against former victims of US meddling and nuclear blackmail, while Israel gets to have its semi-secret arsenal and India violates the NPT and gets US nuclear technology.  Obama says the nuclear weapons states would disarm, but the US and Russia still have many weapons, ready to launch, risking our extinction through a mistaken signal.  However horrifying and expensive, possessing a nuclear deterrent might be the only way to prevent the US from invading your country these days, and that still opens the way for fake color revolutions to topple a troublesome government.   

 

Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize, but implicitly threatens countries like Sudan and Myanmar with invasion or genocidal sanctions.  It is also ironic that he refers to the military dictatorship in Myanmar while abetting the military coup in Honduras.  When people use social networking to fight capitalist and theological oppression in Iran, American capitalists and their media treat them as heroes, but Americans are brutalized when they peacefully demonstrate against unequal "globalization," and people are arrested for using social networks to warn about police countermeasures.  Americans are also ignored if not actively denigrated by much of the media when they oppose a US war.   

 

That Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize just for being different from Bush, and while occupying Iraq and Afghanistan, isn't that surprising considering some of the other people who have received the Prize, and the quiet but imperialist economy of Norway.  Human nature, imperfect as it is, is not what needs to be perfected, it is the legacy of history that has put the working majority under the tyranny of the capitalist minority, and almost every country under the hegemony of one imperialist, nuclear-armed superpower.  The control of the majority by a minority due to an exploitative and irrational economic system undermines our other human rights.   

 

For a small, but real act in support of human rights, come to the Durham County Commissioner meeting Monday that 14th at 7pm to support this year's Bill of Rights Proclamation, with stronger language in support of the rights of immigrants.  The Proclamation was negotiated by the Durham Bill of Rights Defense Committee and the Durham Immigrant Solidarity Committee, and there should be a City Proclamation later in the month.  Bill of Rights Day is the 15th.   

Durham County will follow its own zoning rules only if sued

Durham County is not going to revisit the October 12th Jordan Lake watershed zoning vote, unless forced to do so by a lawsuit, so money is being collected to start a lawsuit December 11th.  The County government says it is going to argue that the landowner petition was invalid if sued, though the Planning Department has now reversed its earlier decision, too late for the petition to have mattered.  This is in addition to the developer's lawsuit claiming the County violated their "property rights," though October 12th the County did what the developer wants, but that zoning is not all they need the County to approve in order to build 751 South (which some still call 751 Assemblage).  Below is an appeal from the zoning opponents, which they say to pass along, so I assume it can be posted here.     

 

"The Durham Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) are leaving signers of the Jordan Lake boundary protest petition no recourse but to sue in order to get justice.

Durham activists have begun a fund to pay the legal fees for individual petition signers who are willing to be plaintiffs in a suit that would uphold the protest petition and stop the lake boundary change.  This decision will affect everyone who cares about Jordan Lake - for drinking water and recreation.

Please send a check (put 'Jordan Lake Protest Petition Suit' in the memo) to "Ragsdale Liggett Trust Account" and mail it to 

Ragsdale Liggett, PLLC

Post Office Box 31507

Raleigh, NC  27622

Time is of the essence. The attorney needs to start work immediately to meet the December 11 filing deadline.

Donations of $100 or more will be refunded in whole or in part if the county is required to pay our court costs. In this case, donations under $100 will be given to the Haw River Assembly for the future maintenance and protection of Jordan Lake.

Background: 

The Haw River Assembly and Southern Environmental Law Center organized a zoning protest petition that was signed by 24 landowners in the affected boundary change area near Jordan Lake.  The petition exceeded the minimum required, but was deemed invalid by the Durham Planning Department. The BOCC then voted on October 12 to approve the lake boundary change (that clears the way for a massive new development project to be built in what had been a protected watershed zone). SELC and HRA found that the Planning Department had made errors in counting properties in the petition and the  Planning Deptartment now agrees that the petition is valid. A valid protest petition means that the BOCC vote to approve the boundary change  needs a "super-majority"  4-1 vote to pass, which it did not have.  Instead of admitting this mistake and acknowledging that the boundary should not be changed, the BOCC accepted the county lawyer's advice to defend that vote and decision - telling the petition signers to take them to court if they don't like it."  

Defend human rights for immigrants in Durham, December 7th

From DISC and the Durham BORDC:

 

"Please come out to protect immigrants' rights in Durham County!

On Monday December 7, the Durham Immigrant Solidarity Committee and the
Durham Bill of Rights Defense Committee will be on the agenda of the
Durham County Commission work session. This meeting starts at 9:00 am
and is held in the County Commissioners' chambers, on the second floor
of the Old Courthouse at 200 East Main Street. Our goal is to receive a
strong statement from the Commission in this year's Human Rights Day
(Dec. 10) and Bill of Rights Day (Dec. 15) proclamation. We are asking
for support for privacy rights and family integrity for everyone, and
specifically that picture ID cards from other countries (such as the
Mexican Matricula Consular) will be accepted as valid identification at
traffic stops and at other times when identification is required by law
enforcement. This would mean that people would receive citations if
appropriate, but would _not_ be taken to jail and fingerprinted for
minor offenses, which makes them subject to immigration detention and
deportation.

We hope to have a large turnout at this meeting from the Latino and
other immigrant communities, as well as of immigrants' rights advocates
from all backgrounds and affiliations. Please come and support
protection for the rights of all people who live in Durham County!"

Is the free speech of NC newspapers guaranteed?

Apparently not for free papers.  According to a detective in the UNC or Chapel Hill Police, it is perfectly legal to maliciously remove papers.  A few months ago the General Assembly made it illegal to vandalize portable toilets, but free newspapers, inherently at risk because they are free and often have small budgets, are fair game.  Vandalizing a newspaper box or rack seems to be illegal, but it sounds like people can get away with that too, especially if there is a question of intent.    

 

The Independent Weekly says they have not had problems at UNC, but Chancellor Thorp and the UNC Police have been made aware of the vandalism campaign against Triangle Free Press.  Maybe it will even make the police briefs section of the Daily Tar Heel, though the DTH must know about the situation.    

Anniversaries of two revolutions and one sham, November 7-9

Today in 1917 the Bolsheviks drove out the Kerensky government, putting all power in the hands of the soviets and beginning the socialist stage of the Russian Revolution. That night the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets started, and the next evening it passed decrees on peace and land, and established the Council of People's Commissars, led by Lenin and other Bolsheviks, in coalition with the Left Socialist-Revoluntionaries after the Congress of Peasant Soviets. The Decree on Peace called for a three month armistice to negotiate an end to World War I, and called for the international working class to work for peace and the end of exploitation. The Decree on Land nationalized the land, without compensation, ended rent to landlords, and freely gave more than 400 million acres seized from the monarchy, aristocracy, capitalists, and religious institutions to the peasantry. Forests, waterways, and natural resources were also nationalized. The revolution quickly triumphed in Petrograd, but it took a few more days in Moscow and it took several years to defeat all of the White forces and the imperialist intervention, including US soldiers.

Thanks to the leadership of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and socialism, the USSR industrialized and continued to develop at a rabid pace and guarantee social welfare while the capitalist countries suffered through the Great Depression. Counterrevolutionary revisionists were exposed and Nazi collaborators were uncovered, so the USSR did not collapse when the Germans invaded, unlike the countries of Western Europe. The outcome of World War II in Europe was decided by the superior strength of the USSR, and fascist aggression gave way to revolution across Europe and Asia.

Unfortunately the fierce class struggle of the 30's did not defeat revisionism in the Soviet Union, and in fact revisionists seem to have gotten the upper hand, and when they could, persecuted people unjustly and undermined the government. After Stalin died, or was assassinated by the revisionists, in March 1953, they gained complete power and carried out a counter-revolution during the 50's and 60's, and persecuted the real communists. The USSR probably was a useful counterweight to US influence during the Cold War, but it was still led by counterrevolutionaries who staged a coup in the Greek Communist Party in exile, betrayed the Vietnamese Revolution, staged a counterrevolution in Afghanistan, and enabled the first Iraq War.

Tomorrow is the anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of Albania in 1941, later renamed the Party of Labor of Albania. It formed through the merger of three regional communist groups and was led by Enver Hoxha (born October 16, 1908). Albania was occupied by fascist Italy in spring 1939, and the CPA began in struggle against Italy and later Germany, and their Albanian allies and revisionists, freeing the country and parts of Yugoslavia in late 1944. Then the Albanian communists had to fight British and American intervention, invasion by Greece, and prevent Albania from being swallowed by Yugoslavia and Tito's pro-capitalist Communist Party of Yugoslavia. Ironically, Albania was friendly to the UK and USA, but was rewarded with provocations and paramilitary attacks similar to the "Bay of Pigs" operation in Cuba until 1953. They thought Albania was the weak point of the Warsaw Pact, but Albania uncovered and defeated all of the attacks.

Under the PLA, the severely war damaged economy began to recover and the economy was industrialized. Foreign aid, especially from the USSR, was vital for development, but the revisionist Soviet government under Khrushchev gained power and tried to push its revisionism on Albania. Khrushchev succeeded in undermining most of the communist parties, and all of those with state power in Europe, except Albania, which openly criticized Soviet revisionism in 1960. Later Albania was a leader in the fight against Chinese revisionism. Despite Albania's small size, the Albanian communists upheld Marxism-Leninism and were a progressive, revolutionary force in the world. Revisionism still triumphed there in the late 80's, but the PLA has been rejuvenated, though there is still a lot of work to do, given the embarrassing popularity of GW Bush and Bill Clinton in Albania.

For about a month BBC radio (carried on the local NPR station every day) has been crowing about "Europe's Revolution" in 1989. The Berlin Wall fell on November 9, 1989, and ironically Stalin was probably for reunifying Germany, but was opposed by the East Germans. To a revolutionary communist, those events don't have the power the BBC thinks, because the governments that were toppled were led by revisionists, presiding over capitalistic economies. In the USSR, the leadership decided it no longer needed to pretend to be socialist, while China has kept up the sham that it is a socialist country led by a communist party. The European "Socialist Bloc" was toppled from within or fatally weakened by revisionists and the influence of Gorbachev, and to call counterrevolution a collapse is to buy the lie that capitalism, and not just any capitalism, but "free market" neoliberal capitalism, is the natural order of the world. Ironically, in many of these countries there is wide nostalgia for the past (of course decried as a result of lack of education and desire for faded glory by the UK's radio propaganda). Capitalism, bourgeois democracy, and following advice from Western imperialists has brought corruption, unemployment, poverty, and the other ills of capitalism. Thanks to Yeltsin, Russia is run by imperialist autocrats and profiteers and has declining life expectancy and is losing population, while racism is increasing.

The end of the Cold War has not frozen history, and class conflict is spontaneous and inevitable under capitalism, and won't end because the capitalist media says it has. Contrast the change in the revolutionary USSR and Albania with the fraud of Obama. The Bolsheviks got Russia out of WWI, while Obama continues all of Bush's occupations and sanctions and is widening the war in Pakistan, may attack Iran, and continues the attacks on Palestine, Cuba, and other countries, as well as Bush secrecy and cover for torture. We face an economic crisis, and Obama helps the companies that caused it to get richer, while unemployment rises and credit dries up. The Democrats' idea of health insurance reform is to help the private insurers get more customers, and their idea of fighting climate change is making carbon pollution another way to get rich without doing much about greenhouse gas emissions. The US desperately needs to find its communist party and socialist revolution, while the supposedly socialist countries that suffer under revisionism need to renew their revolutions, watering the tree of liberty with blood if necessary, not follow their Gorbachevs and Yeltsins to capitalist poverty, autocracy or virtually meaningless elections (like ours in the USA), and subservience to foreign and domestic imperialism.

What's up with the AML website? II

Alliance Marxist-Leninist's old website (www.allianceml.com) is going to be replaced. There was an inadvertent lapse in payment and so a company had the opportunity to take the domain name. The content was not lost, but a new website will have to be created for the articles to be available to the public. If you have web design and HTML skills and want to help set up the site and fix the links, let me know.

In other news, a group in the Netherlands is going to translate some AML, Communist League, Compass, and International Struggle Marxist-Leninist articles for a Dutch journal.

City elections tomorrow

Three city council seats and the mayor's office are being contested tomorrow. I think I will vote for the incumbents (Mayor Bill Bell and City Council members Cora Cole-McFadden, Howard Clement, and Mike Woodard. I can't think of anything they have done since the last election that would make it impossible to vote for them and the challengers do not seem to offer better. I will look up more about the mayoral race before voting, but I haven't heard much about the challenger, or about the person running for Woodard's seat.

I won't vote for candidates who support the way the Jordan Lake boundaries have been handled, and I have a lot of doubts about the plan for high-density 751 South. Now it appears that the Planning Department mishandled or sabotaged the landowner petition that would have required a vote 4-1 to change the map, which would have prevented the change from being made (and note that the area could have been developed without any change, just at a lower density). The County Commissioners did what the developer wanted, yet we are still being sued, and now there could be a Haw River Assembly lawsuit too, because the government is not going to revisit the October 12th vote, even if it is found to have ignored its own Unified Development Ordinance rules on petitions. We definitely need more jobs an economic growth in Durham, but I don't believe the developer's economic figures and if developments are approved based on predicted employment growth, no development will ever be turned down, because a capitalist economy is unlikely to ever provide 100% employment here. I think Durham is already too accomodating to developers and companies seeking incentives (a comprehensive survey of the Durham portion of Jordan Lake costing less than $100,000 is supposedly too expensive, yet millions are being given to one company after votes in October). Also, there is already a traffic problem because of development in Durham and Cary, and building so much at the south end of the County will only make traffic worse on 751 and nearby roads. These issues will be discussed by the City Council before 751 South can be built, so this is not just an issue for the County Commissioners. I don't know how the incumbents will vote, but they have not publicly supported what the County Commissioners are doing.

I have voted for Libertarians before, but I am opposed to economic libertarianism and don't see a reason to get rid of Clement. I generally agree with Woodard's votes and he usually replies to constitutent emails, unlike some members of the Council.

You can see the current City Council in action tonight and on the 16th at 7pm. The County Commissioners have regular 7pm meetings on the 9th and 23rd.

Final Jordan Lake vote is Monday night

The decisive public hearing and County Commissioner vote on changing the map of Jordan Lake based on private surveys is Monday, the 12th, after 7pm at 200 East Main Street (see www.co.durham.nc.us/departments/bocc/Agendas/Current_Meeting_Agen.html). It should be a dramatic meeting.

Below is an article about the hearing on April 13th, which was about how to deal with the issue. Page and Bowser wanted to move the boundary on the spot, as an administrative change, but Howerton voted with Reckhow and Heron to go through the usual process, which seems to have been the only legal option for the County government. Since April 13th many things have happened (a counter-survey, South Durham Development is sueing the County, the Haw River Assembly forced the County to let them join the lawsuit, and the County Attorney was fired). A few days ago the Haw River Assembly presented a landowner petition that would require a majority of four commissioners to approve the change. Then the Planning Department said there are not enough petitioneers. The Herald-Sun speculated that this is because the rezoning hearing involves not just landowners near New Hope Creek, but also part of RTP (around the EPA and NIEHS campuses), in the Northeast Creek basin.

The battle over where Jordan Lake ends along New Hope Creek

At the Durham Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) meeting April 13^th a far-reaching dispute over where Jordan Lake ends along New Hope Creek came to a head. The edge of the Lake's normal pool, at 216 above sea level, is at issue, because Durham limits impervious surfaces and utility connections within the critical watershed, one mile from the shore, and this effects a proposed 164 acre development. The plan includes 384 houses, 916 apartments, 600,000 square feet of stores and offices, two schools, a fire station, a police station, and a YMCA off 751 near Fayetteville Road. Cree CEO and developer of nearby Colvard Farms, Neal Hunter, originally proposed 751 Assemblage. He is now a minority partner with the Southern Durham Development Company and their plan was renamed 751 South.

Hunter asked then Planning Director Frank Duke, now planning director in Norfolk, Virginia, to move the critical and protected watershed boundaries west based on a 2005 survey by licensed surveyors Hunter hired. Duke and the Planning Department approved the change January 6, 2006, putting the property over one mile from the Lake. One argument is over whether this was an administrative "correction" or a change, which Duke could not do unilaterally under Durham's Unified Development Ordinance (UDO), which went into effect five days before his action. A correction is only allowed for a line on one property or when half-acre parcels are involved. Duke's decision impacts around 320 Durham properties. County Attorney Chuck Kitchen [since fired, possibly because of this advice] said the change is illegal, because Duke did not go through the BOCC or the State's Environmental Management Commission (EMC). In August the Division of Water Quality (DWQ) found that the County did not have the authority to change the map without approval from Federal and State regulators. Duke said he was following procedure, and that he was advised by Keith Luck, at the time the planning supervisor and now assistant planning director.

November 10th the County Commissioners voted 3-2 in closed session to accept the survey and a second Hunter commissioned in 2008 [at the time Cheek was a commisioner and now works for the developer's law firm]. Then Planning Director Steve Medlin changed the map back, incurring the wrath of then BOCC Vice Chair Michael Page. Medlin said he had to change the maps to reflect the current boundaries. In December the Chatham County BOCC passed a resolution questioning the use of a private survey and offering to help pay the $95,000 cost of a new survey.

This boundary change had to be vetted through the DWQ, which approved the change February 4^th, despite opposition from the Chatham BOCC and conservationists. Earlier, on November 26^th, Hunter wrote to DWQ saying review should not be necessary, because NC only requires the critical watershed to be half a mile from the shore and none of the State mandated boundaries had changed, and that Federal review was unnecessary. Then there was argument over whether the change had to go through the volunteer Durham Planning Commission. Earlier, in January 2008, ownership changed when Southern Durham Development, connected to the Boylan Companies in Raleigh, bought the land for about $18 million. April 13^th Company representatives said that they had thought it was no longer in the critical watershed.

In March Durham Planning Commission Chair George Brine, Haw Riverkeeper Elaine Chiosso, and south Durham activist Melissa Rooney asked the EMC to rule on the change. That decision will probably be made May 1st [the EMC declined to get involved].

In the meantime public debate was increasing. Environmentalists, the Haw River Assembly, Northeast Creek Stream Watch, and the Durham People's Alliance lobbied against using the surveys. At a BOCC working meeting March 23^rd members of the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People held signs opposing holding a public hearing, in favor of promised new jobs. The developer's lawyers argued that a public hearing was not necessary, but this position did not prevail and it was scheduled for April 13th. The Duke and Old West Durham neighborhoods, Durham's Inter-Neighborhood Council, the Durham People's Alliance PA), and Democratic precincts approved a resolution against using the surveys. There was also lobbying by State groups like the Southern Environmental Law Council (SELC). Friends of Durham supported the private surveys, casting calls for a new survey as a waste of money and an unfair attack on Hunter by the PA. Their letter to the BOCC said the survey mirrored Federal topographic maps and that Durham protected water quality more than Chatham. The Durham Chamber of Commerce and the Triangle Business Journal also supported the survey.

County Attorney Kitchen asked UNC School of Government professor David Owens to review the case. Owens argued that if there was "an amendment to the boundaries of a zoning district" or if a map was used, there had to be a public hearing. The developer's attorneys argued that Owens did not settle the question. The Commissioners asked planners in Buncombe, Vance, Mecklenberg, Cumberland, and New Hanover counties for advice, but only Buncombe replied by the April 13^th hearing.

The almost three-hour hearing was very full, with more than 100 people, of which 45 commented. The first comments were against the private survey. A representative of the Trinity Park Neighborhood Association in downtown Durham said his organization cared about this issue and was opposed. SELC attorney Kay Bond, the Haw River Assembly's Elaine Chiosso and others criticized the survey methodology. A silver-haired man forcefully spoke for the development, saying that he drove for hours to represent his daughter, who was undergoing surgery for cancer. He said progress had allowed him to get to Durham. Jack Steer, of the conservative Durham Citizens Council, said it was too late to reverse course. A resident of nearby Chancellor's Ridge said that hairs were being split, education was a better use of taxes, and that development would bring improvements. Melissa Rooney showed photos of many nearby commercial sites that are vacant, indicating that there is a glut. Rooney and several others wore Clean Water/Clean Government t-shirts, with a picture of fox in a henhouse. There were also clean water stickers. Some private survey opponents held signs, while supporters held Jobs for Durham signs.

Southern Durham Development officials and their lawyers spoke. Among other things, they mentioned the estimated employment and tax revenue generated, and said the development would be a high quality, national example of New Urbanism and environmentally benign. Neal Hunter said "The commissioners should put an end to this continuously moving target, and acknowledge the property rights that I have. You have no right to change the rules on taxpayers and citizens. As landowners, how can we rely on anything in the future?" The surveyors defended their qualifications and results.

Chatham County Commissioner Sally Kost was the first speaker questioned by a Commissioner, when Bowser pointedly asked whether Chatham sets the critical watershed at half a mile or one mile from the Lake. Kost then asked whether Durham mandates buffers along ephemeral streams, which it does not, while Chatham does. Lawyer Tom Miller forcefully told the Commissioners that the approval process had gone out the window and that they had to start over or would be acting illegally. Deborah Giles accused developers of frequently using promises of jobs to manipulate the public. John Kent, of New Hope Audubon, was the final speaker. He mentioned the group's monthly water testing along New Hope Creek and the over 2000 valid signatures he had presented, from an online petition started by Rooney before the DWQ decision.

Another hour of deliberations followed. Four commissioners had already staked out positions. Current Vice Chair Ellen Reckhow and Becky Heron continued to oppose using Hunter's surveys. Chair Michael Page voted for the surveys in November and newly elected Joe Bowser opposed even having the hearing. Brenda Howerton, previously a Soil & Water District Supervisor, was also newly elected, and gave no sign of her position. In response to a question from the commissioners, Medlin said he could not say if the development would reduce water quality. Reckhow said "we would be terribly remiss to not follow the advice of our County Attorney and our County Manager." At one point, Bowser asked why Reckhow and the County Manager had not stopped this problem sooner. He also said "I'm not going to do anything to destroy the water quality in Jordan Lake." Reckhow later said "We took an oath of office that we would uphold the laws of this state and the laws of this community. Now we're sitting here and we're ready to throw them out the window, and I'm not going to be a part of it." Heron said the developers were "speculators" who knowingly took a risk in buying the land.

Bowser read a motion that the surveys be accepted, as a correction. Page seconded. Predictably, the Board split. Howerton abstained in order to ask a question and state that, while Durham has too much unemployment, "Where I stand on this is that we need to follow procedure." Reckhow's alternative motion, to follow the process, was seconded by Heron, and was carried through with Howerton's vote. The crowd was getting restless and someone in the back yelled no during the vote. People in the audience on each side rallied people to clap loudly at points, despite Page's earlier admonitions.

After the vote, Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People's Chair, Lavonia Allison said "I told ya'll [Howerton] can't be trusted." Howerton replied "You are not up here, Dr. Allison, I am." Allison said "You might not be for long" and Howerton retorted, "Well, I've got four years." Bowser alleged that the forces that had opposed Southpoint Mall were behind this, and would destroy the tax base. Page said "I talked to some homebuilders in Durham recently, and what I gathered is that we are not the most friendly folk towards development. I hope that we would change our attitude, and our perception, that when people are trying to grow our community, and grow our tax base, that we are a lot more receptive." There was even arguments over the Treyburn Industrial Park and the prospect of a Wal Mart next to Southpoint. Reckhow was going to suggest a motion, but decided to hold off and Page closed the meeting.

There will be a landowner meeting May 1^st and the boundary change could come before the Planning Commission in June. The developers have requested the comments sent to the BOCC on this issue.

Video of the meeting is available on Durham County's website.

City Council Primary Tuesday

The field of candidates will be narrowed in the election tomorrow and the final vote will be in November.  Cora Cole-McFadden and Howard Clement are facing several challengers for their seats.  I'm leaning toward voting for the incumbents, unless any of the challengers are willing to outflank them on the left.  One thing to pay attention to is a candidate's position on the Jordan Lake issue, which is currently only a County issue, but could involve the City Council soon.  The Herald-Sun asked each of the candidates about this two or three weeks ago.   

 

The current City Council can be witnessed in action tonight at their regular meeting (see www.durhamnc.gov/agendas) and next Monday is the pivotal County Commission vote on the Jordan Lake boundary, and it sounds like Brenda Howerton plans to vote with Page and Bowser to accept Hunter's survey. After all, she sided with them on firing the County Attorney, after he said the County had to go through proper procedures before it could move the boundary, resulting in a dubious lawsuit by 751 South's law firm, which employs former Commissioner Lewis Cheek.  As a result 751 South will go ahead with higher density development, though there will still be opportunities to contest the site plan and ask that streams have wooded buffers, limit mass grading, etc.