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Jones: Yesterday we gave you some Guyanese news, which is our beloved country. Now we’ll take a look back at USA along with the international news which seems to dwell on nothing at all. You would think there was nothing in the world for USA to talk about. Not its seniors, who are eating cat food and walking– living in debt/death, as we saw on The Golden Years. Just two Zionists in the Soviet Union. What they’re trying to achieve only some insane person would be able to speculate. It seems to have no logic whatsoever.
San Francisco black community is up in air, preparing for boycott of public schools in the fall. Presently they’re running schools in makeshift buildings for over 3000 pupils, trying to make up some of the deficits of the total lack of education that has been given to black, Indian, minority children.
Harvey Milk says supervisors are playing games. It’s hiking police wages, when compared to the wages that firemen get, who in addition are actually doing much more work on their job. Some of the police are just sitting behind desks. He said there’s great corruption in San Francisco police. Needless to say, that’s where our conspiracy began. Working with the Treasury, two police then working with oil interest, then working with the racist Senator [John Stennis (D-Mississippi)]. Harvey Milk has been a friend through all the attacks. He’s the gay on the homo– the gay on the uh, yes, homosexual board, that’s probably correct, on the board of supervisors. The honest gay on the board of supervisors.
Court ruling that press cannot visit inside prisons. KQED was the petitioner. They were trying to visit brutalized and raped women in Santa Rita and men (sighs), but the court says that news service will no longer be allowed to go inside prisons. It was the feeling of the authorities and the courts that news people provoked incidents. Interesting. How could news people in USA who never print the truth create any kind of incidents? (Pause)
CBS reports that majority of black teenagers in the nation – it was the night report early in the morning – said the majority of black teenagers think that the government of the United States should be destroyed. (Pause) They make those safe reports about three to four in the morning. Or was it four– between four and five in the morning? Anyway, I would remember, days run into nights, and I have no schedule for sleep. This is encouraging in one sense, if that is the case, and I imagine down deep, everyone knows it should be a new government, the people’s government. Those old people certainly – those beautiful seniors – were very informed.
Muhammad Ali is undergoing a tax investigation. Oh, what did we expect differently? Obviously, because he had praised the Soviet Union and praised Cuba. And he was asked by the Nation of Islam to cease speaking out against the Soviets – or for the Soviets – and the Nation of Islam, in their so-called Bilalian, which means black in their term, newspaper, sharply criticized the Soviet Union for its treatment of Muslims. They’re the only ones to print out such criticisms. But Mr. Wallace [D. Muhammad] wanted to be sure that uh, (Pause) Muhammad Ali did not bring down any pressure on the Nation of Islam. Apparently Muhammad Ali is almost separated from the Nation of Islam, because he came back and said he would go where he wished and speak about what he liked. He was asked which did he like most, the holy city– Which was the greatest honor, the holy city of Mecca or with uh, the mediest– meeting with the Soviet leaders. Ali answered that he could love both his wife and his mother, but he could not, as the Nation of Islam requested, say that he loved one more than the other. Muhammad Ali is Islam-oriented, and he said that he would not say that he loved Mecca – which all Muslims must say– all religion is the opiate of the people. All Muslims are required to say they love Mecca more than any experience in their life. But he said I cannot say which I love more, my wife or my mother. (Pause)
President [Jimmy] Carter is trying to shift some of the heads of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Army, Navy and Air Force. He said that he felt confident that with the sh– reshuffling, if we were attacked by the Soviet Union– There’s nothing now but constant talk of the Soviet menace, and how they’re endangering world peace and liable to strike at any time, to whip up hate again, to whip up the war frenzy, the American people are so easily manipulated. He said now with the reshuffling of the Chiefs of Staff, we would have the strength, the will, to retaliate the nuclear war. Apparently, some of the Joint Chiefs of Staff had said that nuclear war was unacceptable, and so he’s relieving them from their post. We have a president, apparently, more willing to do the fascist will of the establishment of monopoly capitalism, big business, than even the military. (Pause)
Ten dollars’ worth of groceries last month now cost eleven dollars and 77 cents. (Pause)
Governor [Jerry] Brown spoke to a large crowd protesting the lack of pay raises for state employees, the numbers that’ve had to be put out of employment due to the Proposition 13, and Jerry Brown cleverly using up all of the five billion dollar plus California surplus. He gave very unpopular responses to the people. He said what you should be concerned about is those that are going to lose their jobs, but apparently those that were keeping their jobs were not concerned about the thousands that are faced with losing their jobs next year. They were still demanding for wage increases, for which he has nothing to provide them, wage increases, he’s used all of the money up to keep from having to fire practically half of the California government, the welfare services and social services, so there’s no money to make any wage increases that the present employees no doubt need. At a press conference, he said that in a democracy, people should be able to give up in order to help another person on their own selfish demands. Well, it’s easy for Governor Brown to talk what’s selfish demands, in that he’s always been in an elitist comfortable middle-class family. (Pause) He said uh– to Governor Brown, the spokespeople for the labor sector said that uh, when Safeway and Macy’s and these big stores reduce their cost for us, Governor Brown, then we’ll go along with your approach. Until, sir, that happens, talk to the big business people. Well, true. I’m still afraid that USA has no spunk nor spirit if they’re facing overt fascism. I don’t think there’s enough there. I’ve seen it before. I’m afraid there’s too much apathy, and it’s too late.
A (sigh) leading black official OCUR, which I’m not afear uh, uh, uh, familiar with says that big corporations still have all the fat. He named the millions of dollars that P&E [PG&E, Pacific Gas and Electric] ripped off, Standard Oil in California, special tax privileges. He said that with the fat they could employ all the unemployed. He was a government official in Governor Brown’s (Pause) uh, administration.
Potter Valley, California now has stickers all through their valley, “Potter Valley: Love It or Leave It.” It’s evidently aimed so that a little news from Ukiah said to the uh, sector of the valley that was prejudiced against the hippie community. No black would dare live– (short laugh) No black would dare try to live in Potter Valley.
Now, down to the news of the day.
Guyana local officials are discussing their role under the new constitution in the second day of the reshuffling of authority and responsibility. President– Let me see. (Pause) What is it? Oh, here we have– That news is not uh, needed to be repeated. I almost repeated some that had been given earlier. (Pause)
Apparently USA is bringing all force to bear to get the release of [Alexander] Ginzburg and [Natan] Sharansky who have been sentenced in what Radio Sweden calls rather light sentences– They’re neutral, you know, a social democracy, with vestiges of capitalism, even, and uh, certainly not pro-Soviet. But USA calls it a holocaust of repression, these two that’ve been sentenced, and USA is calling on moneys, all kinds of things that they can trade for their release, perhaps they can make political exchanges. The Soviets have said that it’d be nice if they began with the Puerto Rican prisoners and the Wilmington Ten. But we’ll see what comes of that. That was kind of hitting below the belt. There’re many more. The Wilmington Ten and all of those Puerto Ricans that’ve been held for nearly 30 years uh– I don’t know what US is going to have to say about that. The worst sentence handed down here – the worst sanction – was uh, eight years. The Puerto Ricans have been sentenced to life. The Wilmington Ten to life. Quadrupled. Some of them have 400 to 500 year sentences. No wonder Andy Young had a– had a little slip of the tongue and say that uh, there were thousands of political prisoners in USA.
Secretary of State [Cyrus] Vance has censored Andrew Young, and said his con– comments were not helpful to the security of the United States, and he warned him in no uncertain terms that he must never speak his personal opinions again in public. A senior State Department official of USA that handed down the terse warning from Vance, who was really representing Carter – and probably the Trilateral Commission, all those puppets serving the Trilateral Commission, which is the monopoly capitalist that still rule the world, too much of it anyway – warned in the most severe fashion, never to open his mouth again. (Pause)
Now, the Soviets today for the first time have handed down the death sentence to one (unintelligible name) who was recruited by USA as a spy – the CIA – while in Algiers and was providing secrets to the CIA under the Carter Administration. He will be sentenced to death.
[Egyptian president Anwar] Sadat says that he’s hopeful that a peace agreement will come, that there were some specific results from the talks between [Boutros Boutros-Ghali] the foreign minister of sellout Egypt and Zionist Israel in Austria.
US Senate appears to be preparing to block all exchanges of uh, oil drilling equipment, computers, and wheat, because of treatment – as they call it – of the Soviet Zionist dissidents. However, Senator Clark [Richard C. Clark (D-Iowa)] and some of the very few liberals said we’re only cutting off our nose to spite our face. The Soviet Union can buy it from Japan. They can buy it from other European capitalist nations, who these days are looking after their own interests with tariff barriers and protectionist policies. But the USA is trying to prove that they’re greatly concerned about human rights. Strange they don’t begin with the Wilmington Ten. The Soviets have challenged them. They’ll release this scum that they have, as they call one of them, who risked the security of the Soviet Union by selling secrets, as Sharansky did, to the CIA, but the USA didn’t even respond. I guess they don’t believe that the Wilmington Ten are quite uh, as valuable as the uh, two Soviets. Someway, they– they– they don’t feel that they’re as worthy of attention as the Soviets. There’s only two of those Soviet spies, as opposed to all the Wilmington Ten and all the Puerto Ricans. It’ll be interesting to see what comes out of the Soviet challenge. (Pause) Sharansky got a surprisingly un– uh, severe penalty. With his young age and uh, being charged with a capital crime that could’ve easily brought about the death sentence, selling spies, uh– selling uh, state secrets to uh, the CIA, to the USA, that could’ve brought death and life imprisonment, but it didn’t. Eight years.
Anyway (sighs) nothing but that goes on in US news to speak of.
The meeting of the economic summit in Bonn, Germany is uh, dealing with energy, trade and currency problems that are affecting what Carter said a near breakdown in the cooperation of the capitalist community, ‘cause the capitalist community is all kind of dividing, the European combination– uh, Common Market or uh, were looking at their interest and Australia kind of apart from the rest, and Japan, separate from all, keeping its own surplus. Lots of difficulties. The Arab League, beginning to talk about changing the medium of exchange because USA’s not doing enough to fight uh, their enemies, the liberators in the Horn of Africa, so we’ll see. Discussion has come up in the meeting between [German Chancellor Helmut] Schmidt and Carter about uh, the deployment of neutron bombs. Herr Schmidt, the prime minister of fascist West Germany, has agreed that they are essential, finally, because there had been hesitancy on the part of West Germany to deploy them, but they have been convinced by the inhumane administration in Washington.
Both sides in the negotiations on SALT talks – the foreign minister of the Soviet Union, [Andrei] Gromyko, and the Secretary of State, Vance – said the usual– or USA released the usual– uh, the useful pabulum, or the usual pabulum, in saying – this is always what they say about every talk these days – they were useful. Now what in he– whatever in the hell that means. There was no SALT agreement. There’s no Strategic Arms Limitation agreement, the Senate says it will not ratify one, it requires two-thirds – 67 out of the hundred Senators to do it anyway – and they say they won’t do it because of the attitude, the Cold War attitude that has been built up again to a feverish pitch against the Soviet Union. So, doesn’t look like there’s much hope. (covers microphone)
The most important news left I would see is the uh, Ethiopian situation. Several provocations have taken place by the Somalians who have been backed by the Chinese and USA imperialist. The Ethiopian planes are now attacking Somalian cities. They had warned Somalia, USA and her Western backers, the Chinese who joined in this renegade exploitation, that the next time Somalia tried to move in on their territory, and last year it looked like Somalia – backed by the dread fascist imperialist – were succeeding. They’d almost taken over the Ogaden region of Ethiopia, and Eritrea – E-r-i-t-r-e-a – was nearly broken away. Now Eritrea’s back in the jurisdiction, its rightful jurisdiction under Ethiopia, and so is the Ogaden, but Somalia started some border skirmishes, and now they’re getting bombed. Their cities are getting bombed by Ethiopian planes. For 16 years, Somalia [Ethiopia] said, we have been fighting Western imperialism and Eritrea. Now we are tired of it, and we have warned you that we will take the war to our enemies. So that Somalia’s feeling the blow of the bombs. And USA’s threatening Ethiopia, but Ethiopia’s still bombing.
So that will be the subject at the close now. Ethiopia. (covers microphone) Ethiopia. Near the extreme eastern bulge of central Africa, the Sudan – S-u-d-a-n – forms its western boundary, the Red Sea its northern, and Kenya its southern boundary. To its east are the Somalia Republic that has turned very fascistic in its foreign policy, backed by US imperialism and its lackeys. And then the French territory of the Afars – capital A-f-a-r-s – and the Issas – I-s-s-a-s. (covers microphone) Now we shall go on.
How was it created? As the ancient Abyssinian – A-b-y-s-s-i-n-i-a-n – Empire, black Ethiopia dates from biblical times. The recent monarchy traced its origin to the Queen of Sheba – capital S-h-e-b-a – and King Solomon – S-o-l-o-m-o-n. Conquered by Italy in 1936, fascist– the founder of fascism Benito Mussolini, and liberated five years later, Ethiopia added the former colny– colony of Eritrea – which had been a part of the original Ethiopian empire – to present-day Ethiopia in 1952, and made it a state, a province, in 1962.
What is the size? 471,800 square miles. That’s big. Remember, Guyana is 83,000 square miles. So you’re talking something about five times– five and six times bigger than Guyana. It’s about as big as France and Spain combined, so look on your map and you’ll get an idea of how large it is. World maps tend to underestimate the size of Africa, not wanting it to be seen just how powerful that black continent is.
Population is 27 million. Still, a heavier ratio of people to the land than we have in Guyana. Fact is, it’s the best ratio in the world here. Best future, because there’s more fertile land, people can always eat here and have food to give to other nations. It’s one of the few nations that is true about. Population is 27 million. Of that, Galla – capital G-a-l-l-a – a racial group, is 33%. Amhara – capital A-m-h-a-r-a – (covers microphone) is big an– as France and Spain uh, combined, as I said, is broken up into several uh, black nations, black ethnic groups. The Amhara are 25%. The Tigre – T-i-g-r-e – are 12%. Walamo – capital W-a-l-a-m-o – are eight percent. The Somali – S-o-m-a-l-i – are six percent. Gurage G-u-r-a-g-e – are four percent. Afar dash Saho – capital S-a-h-o, capital F– A-f-a-r – three percent. Sidamo – S-i-d-a-m-o – three percent. Other races, six percent. More racial integration, it has been said, than in most nations of the world. More people living peacefully together. Fifty-five percent of the entire population are Coptic Christians, one of the most original Christian sects. Thirty-five percent are Muslim. Ten percent are animist.
Who rules? The Provisional Military Administrative Council, which deposed the emperor Haile Selassie – capital H-a-a– capital H-a-i-l-e capital S-e-l-a-s-s-i-e – in 1974, who ruled severely, gave all of the benefits to his family and the upper class rulers, while the people of Ethiopia lived in misery and utter starvation. When Haile Selassie was overthrown by the socialist military revolution, it was estimated that a half of the people were starving to death. The military is supported by student groups and now even by the Coptic Church, a rare combination, to find a church barking– uh, b– backing a pro-Soviet socialist revolution.
Enter Ethiopia and you enter the Middle Ages, at least until very recently, until the revolution of socialism began to change things. Socialism had to pick up Ethiopia from the feudal days and bypass capitalism, and they’re making great efforts to maintain the need of their people through socialized medicine, socialized housing and guaranteed employment. Known to his subjects as the Lion of Judah, King of Kings and the Elect of God, its emper– emperor was one of the world’s only living examples of an absolute monarch, before the socialist revolution, that is. Haile Selassie. Ethiopia society was a classic feudal state, with the royal family, feudal lords, slaves, serfs, and the church controlling the land and the life of the people. Amharas, the landowning, aristocratic class collected 90% of their tenants’ harvest. That’s why there was half of the population starving before the socialist military revolution. In Hararge – capital H-a-r-a-r-g-e – Ethiopia’s largest province, 75% of the land was owned by less than one percent of the people.
In March 1975, the military government announced the nationalization of all farm lands, and banned the use of hired labor, and demanded that all people be given a share of the land. Haile Selassie tried to lead his subjects to a limited form of democracy, he said, an agrarian reform, but it never took place. It was cosmetic rhetoric. After all, such a move ran against the interest of his own feudal class, oppressor class. Reform came too slowly for the military, students and professionals, who had first struck for higher wages, but eventually toppled the monarchy. Among striking groups were the capital’s 50,000 prostitutes, who even jorned– joined in the revolution. As guardians of the people’s happiness and well-being, they demanded a minimum fee of ten dollars. The first time in history where prostitutes organized militantly and helped bring down a fascist regime. Fifty thousand prostitutes did that in Ethiopia. It’s a hell of an interesting history.
During the spring and summer of 1974, the military jailed some of the largest landowners, bureaucrats and imperial aides in a fairly bloodless coup, and dragged the King of Kings out of his Jubilee Palace in a blue Volkswagen police car amidst student shouts of “Thief! Thief! Murderer!” He was evidently no longer the Elect of God. The people had decided God was no longer running their business.
The Coptic Church has kept Christianity alive in a sea of pagan and Muslim hostility for over 1500 years. The institution has changed little in that time, gathering both power and land. It obliges the people to fast 180 days of the year – that was a good suggestion that the good church leaders would have, that would help excuse the fact that they had no food there, actually fasting nearly half of the year – and commemorates so many saints days that between feasting and fasting, very little work ever got done. This is particularly true in the rural areas, where it wielded its greatest power. But the church has had its leaders deposed, and more socialist leaders for the laity brought up to the hierarchy of the church. And the church is now backing the military.
Now the province of Eritrea – just a few words about it – that is a part of Ethiopia, but US imperialist have tried to destroy that alliance and invade it several times. Ethiopian province along the Red Sea, Eritrea – capital E-r-i-t-r-e-a. What is its size? 45,400 square miles. Just about half the size of Guyana. Population, two million of mixed Arab-black stock, and US imperialism has tried to appeal to them, their race prejudice against black Ethiopia, because most of the tribes of Ethiopia are black, more black than Arab.
During the nineteenth century, the Amharas conquering adjoining Muslim lands and imposed their language and government. That’s the aristocratic, land-owning uh, racist uh, sect– uh, sector before the revolution. Part of Eritrea – the Roman name for the land around the Red Sea – has been under intermittent Ethiopian control for all those centuries. This part was the kingdom of Tigre – T-i-g-r-e – in the central mountains. Tigre is a part of the Ethiopian plateau, and its people are all Christian. Because they have participated in Ethiopian culture for over 1000 years, most Tigreans believe Eritrea is a lost province of Ethiopia. However that part of Eritrea right along the Red Sea in the north and west of the province has been traditionally Muslim. These people have fought any union with Ethiopia, and want Eritrea to be an independent state.
After World War II, however, the United Nations decided rightfully that Eritrea should federate with Ethiopia because of its long history, and the majority of the population preferring Ethiopia. Eritrea would handle local affairs while Ethiopia would handle external ones, like defense and foreign affairs. In 1962, Ethiopia cancelled Eritrea’s so-called autonomy because of US imperialism, trying to break it away from the Ethiopian federation, and made her a province. Eritreans, meanwhile, having enjoyed greater political freedoms, they thought, under the British and Italian rule, the ele– the aristocratic element of Eritrea, that is, weren’t about to be returned to that type of program, so separatists formed the ELF, the Eritrean [Liberation] Front, made up of both Christians and Muslims who wanted independence and were getting strong financial backing from the US capitalist and her lackey allies. Over a decade of guerilla fighting exploded into major battles in early 1975, with direct USA participation, resulting in over 6000 deaths. Now the fighting has subsided as Ethiopia has shown that the people are with Ethiopia for the majority in Eritrea, and the Ethiopian people have a will to protect their sovereign lands, and particularly their provinces, from capitalist domination and exploitation.
Thus ends the news of this day with a commentary on Ethiopia, because Ethiopia is taking action that USA says again endangers nuclear war. Thank you, and much love. You can now review the news again. Be sure to catch up on other things, because I’m making news shorter, so you can go back and catch up on oth– other things and talk much about The Golden Years, those golden years. The black mother, 69 going on 70, one limb gone, dirty old room with her little grandson. He has no future when she dies. She talks about a living hell, which 12 years before, her daughter never even came to see her when her limb was cut off, the other daughter, the mother of that child, abandoned him, because the system alienates everyone. All of them alone. The poor little lady that’d been mugged and was blind, had more sense than the middle class, more sense than those up– and able-bodied. She didn’t blame those teenie– teens, she blamed the capitalist system, for no jobs, for giving no hope. All of them spoke of life being worse than death, looking forward to death. Some of them had been superintendents, owned their businesses. But in the end, no one cared, no one shared. One man said, I was so glad in that empty cold nursing home just to talk to the camera people who were interested only of course in making a movie. How pitiful. And it could be you, and would’ve been you, certainly. Those were business people, some of them. All races, white and black. Age in USA is a dead end street, a dark, dark end of a tunnel. And we need to talk about– There’s much more– I don’t want to take up your time. Sensitize each other, because as we are sensitive to other people’s needs, we’ll be more sensitive to each other.
Much love.
Part II
Jones: (unintelligible word) for Senator in the fall. He [Edward Brooke] has had to pay $5000 a month alimony. No other senator – if he were not black – would’ve had this kind of uh, public scrutiny over a divorce proceeding and be charged with perjury. What will come of it in terms of uh, federal indictments or criminal indictments is still not known.
Japan police have arrested 80 principal gang leaders because they’re fearful of an all-out gang war that could even disrupt the Japanese government. They’ve been organizing into several death squads after the leading Japanese mobster– Japan knew nothing of gangsters or mobsters or Mafia until after USA occupied after World War II. Well anyway, they’ve moved into various death squads, trying to seek revenge for the leading mobster of Japan who was shot point blank in the neck while on trial, and his neck blown open and killed.
LA Rams have been charged with discrimination. It is before the government body that decides that.
A judge in New Jersey [Theodore Trautwein] has ordered the arrest of the principal New York Times reporter [M.A. Farber]. The press is getting a little of the heat that they have so willingly and obligingly put out on socialist who would dare try to change US society and make it decent and humane, ‘cause the Supreme Court has upheld that their files can no longer be kept secret, that they are the property of any police agency. Well, the New York Times correspondent newsman refused to release his notes on a story of a doctor [Mario E. Jascalevich] who was charged with murder, and he has now been arrested and will be held until he decides to give up this information.
Newsmen all over the United States are crying about this, that it threatens the very role of investigative journalism. Yes. Why didn’t they use their investigative journalism on the government while they had a chance, instead of trying to destroy groups like Peoples Temple and Huey [Newton] and Synanon that were offering some other hope – at least a little hope – for some (unintelligible word.) US society.
Guyana firmed up the agreement with China over a tile-making plant. All of it has been handed over by China today to Guyana. All the equipment in the factory. It will make 134,000 tiles annually in Georgetown.
Two-part commonwealth workshop for teaching metric system in school and management, that there may be a move to the metric system in all of the Caricom communities, so we better be thinking about that in our mathe– math– mathematical department. It’s sponsored by Caricom, the economic cooperative community of which Guyana is a member, to assist all Caricom nations to go to the metric system, and this will be decided on a date very soon. So our school better start learning about the metric system.
Minister of Health [Hamilton Green] has received considerable medical equipment for community health programs. Free health programs are being set up throughout Georgetown.
A leading Berbice citizen was murdered, and her lover then poisoned himself, it– while in the hospital.
Massey Ferguson having a training course in the Northwest District for government and private and collective farmers.
Barbados foreign minister leaves Guyana on his way to United Kingdom, to try to talk to [Minister for Overseas Development] Judith Hart into getting away from some of the severe sanctions that England has against Guyana. England seems to be showing the bitterness of US imperialism. They’re using England which uh, our various cabinet minister friends have said uh, leave Guyana friendless. So that we have in common. But we can stand together as socialist.
That is the end of the late news. I wanted to give you all the news. I don’t decide on what, like The New York Times, is fit. That’s for you to listen to and decide. The end of the news, and you can review it again now.
Much love.
Part III
Music for balance of tape.
End of tape.
Tape originally posted January 2012