Views in brief

Resistance in Southern Yemen

IN RESPONSE to "The rivalries tearing the Middle East apart": Very good comprehensive article. There's one thing missing, though--understandably, given that it gets ignored by the world media. Aden and other southern locations in Yemen are pretty much under siege by Saleh's forces and Houthi, who have been engaged in several mass killings of civilians, constant sniping and shelling civilian buildings.

Food and medical supplies are very short. The resistance in Aden to the Houthi is, at the moment, entirely from armed local people, who have deep support in the city, forming a seemingly leaderless guerilla resistance. Captured Houthi express terror at being sent back to their own side, fearing execution for failure. Many are under 16.

Adeni fighters are south Yemen independence fighters, and the reason they are fighting is very much for southern independence and freedom. Although their greatest hatred is of Saleh, they are not necessarily pro-Hadi. They are not yet closely aligned with the imperialist U.S.-Saudi intervention, and conversations we're having with them show there is an awareness, to some degree, of the contradictions and dangers of lining up with Hadi's friends.

The influence of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in the South is, I think, greatly overplayed by the media. They are present, but are not currently a major player in this conflict, to my knowledge. They lie low a lot of the time, and the fact that there has been a genuine mass movement for southern independence may have filled a lot of the vacuum they seek to occupy.
Alistair Wingate, Birmingham, UK

We need concrete demands

I THOUGHT the recent SocialistWorker.org editorial headlined "Confronting the epidemic of police murders" was well written but politically weak.

It feels very liberal in formulation--for example, capitalism is not mentioned once. It spends a lot time debunking many demands to stop police shootings without offering any alternative, concrete demands for the movement, and then ends with a plea to "imagine" a real alternative.

Movements need demands, and socialists should be arguing for the ones that politically drive the movement forward and weaken our class enemies. For example:

Why don't we argue for civilian elected committees that can suspend and fire cops not just review cases of police misconduct?

Cops that shoot civilians should be suspended without pay.

Cops shouldn't have city paid lawyers to represent them like Jon Burge did for 20 years.

Disarm and demilitarize the police force so there no more tactical or SWAT teams.

Abolish the police intelligence squads that spy on us and the Black community.

Ban police unions that are the most racist organizations active in big city politics.

It is only by convincing the militant, radicalized minority in the movement today of socialist demands that we can fight for leadership and make clear to a wider number of activists what building a socialist alternative really offers.
Joe Allen, Chicago

An injustice to Indiana women

IN RESPONSE to "Indiana's war on pregnant women": This is just horrible for this poor woman. As a lawyer, I have looked at the disparity of sentencing for men who kill their children and women who kill their children. Men get far less prison time than women for the same crime. We have a man here in Vermont who killed his child, and he is on a bracelet and not in prison.

This woman did not kill her child. She allegedly aborted a fetus. There is a huge difference, legally and morally. She should not spend one day in jail. This is a terrible misuse of the legal system.

Indiana leads the pack as the most unjust state in the union. I will never go there again.
Dr. Peggy W. Larson, Williston, Vermont

The answer to global warming

IN RESPONSE to "California is burning": Great article, but instead of just fighting pitched battles for climate justice, one after the other, as global warming increases, we really need to address the root cause. The solution to global warming is political and economic. Most voters now support government action on climate change as long as it doesn't hurt them economically, and over 91 percent support clean energy.

The volunteer Citizens Climate Lobby is working to get a law passed in Congress that would put an escalating national pollution tax on all fossil fuel producers, with 100 percent of the tax money given in equal amounts every month to every American. As the tax makes fossil fuels increasingly more expensive than clean energy, middle-class and low-income people will switch to clean energy and come out ahead financially. Same with increasing taxes on imports from carbon polluters like China until they cut their emissions. People will use their carbon import tax money to buy U.S. goods.

A REMI economic study shows this will create 2.8 million U.S. jobs (net) and add $75-80 billion to GDP annually. With no government regulations, expansion or expense, this revenue-neutral plan can even be supported by the Republicans. It's simple, transparent and has no downside (except for those who haven't divested from fossil fuels). But just the prospect of such a law might cause a rush for the exit among fossil-fuel investors.

This plan has been successful in British Columbia for six years, and it's supported by over 2,500 major economists, including nine Nobel Prize winners. See the volunteer Citizens Climate Lobby website for more. James Hansen, the world's most-respected climate scientist, has said the most important thing you can do about global warming is join the Citizens Climate Lobby. How about giving us some press coverage?
Lynn Goldfarb, Lancaster, Pennsylvania