Reinvest in America Kickoff Avoids Tough Questions

The "Reinvest in America: Put America Back to Work!" campaign kicked off its Appalachian bus tour with a 6:00 p.m. rally Sunday, June 6th at the Stanwix Street headquarters of the United Steelworkers of America (USWA). The Reverend Jesse Jackson was joined by Congressman Dennis Kucinich, USWA Vice President Leon Lynch, United Mine Workers (UMW) President Cecil Roberts and other labor and community figures, along with rhythm and blues act "The Carpenter Ants." The tour through Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, was intended to encourage corporations to reinvest in a particuarly hard-hit region of North America, which has seen the loss of 334,000 manufacturing jobs in the past three years, and thousands more in the past twenty.

Yet with its emphasis on voter registration and Democratic stumping, the tour kickoff, however well intentioned, was reduced to an "Anybody but Bush" rally in a hardhat. After all, the neo-liberal trade agreements responsible for recent job losses, such as NAFTA and the FTAA were both signed into law by a Democratic President. Those who choose to voice their opposition to these trade policies in the streets, and not for two minutes every four years, are met with severe repression at the hands of an increasingly, violent, largely unaccountable, militarized law enforcement apparatus.

When asked about Democratic politicians’ support for globalization, and the ruthless quashing of dissent from such policies, particularly what is being referred to as the "Miami Model," the Reverend Jackson was unclear, opting instead for Olympic metaphors. He spoke of a need to "level the playing field" and said that the US was trying to "run 60 yards in a 100 yard dash."

UMW President and Vietnam veteran, Cecil Roberts, replied that he "has walked countless picket lines and participated in numerous demonstrations..." but had never seen such force used against "union members, retirees, and others" as he did in Miami. Roberts described a "police state" and an atmosphere of "fear and intimidation." Another union member expressed his disgust that $865,000 of Homeland Security funding was used to quash free-expression. The final price tag for security at the Miami FTAA summit was a whopping $24.5 million, with over half of the funds coming from the Iraq reconstruction package.

One union official emphasized the need for "vital products necessary to improve national security." He failed to mention, however, whether the "national security products" he referred to were those currently being used in Iraq or those that were used in Miami.

Jackson said that, "If we can find the money to destroy and rebuild Iraq, we can find the money to reinvest in America," and decried the fact that the US is "building roads in Iraq while children in Appalachia have to drive two hours one way to get to school," and that the US is "building roads in Iraq while infrastructure at home is collapsing."

Earlier in the day, at a voter registration drive at the Monumental Baptist Church, Congressman Dennis Kucinich said the 44 million Americans living without health care are part of a "new form of poverty" and AFSCME President Gerald McEntee entreated transnational corporations to "bring health care to America before you bring it anywhere else."

The "Reinvest in America" campaign, however well intentioned, refused to recognize that profit-based economic systems can only function if people are viewed as commodities, and failed to say how another rich, white man can change that.

Thursday, June 3, the Reverend Jesse Jackson addressed
a lunchtime crowd at Market Square to recognize National
Hunger Awareness Day. (Photo by Casandra Armour)