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Anti-war advocate,
communist fired
By Danielle Grossman
On-line Forty-Niner
The American flag
waved outside the Cal State Long Beach University Student
Union. It provided a background of support and at the same
time of mocking irony for Michael Italie, who just completed
the first stop of his speaking tour for First Amendment rights.
Italie sat unimposing across the table with his hands folded
in his lap. Though he spoke in subdued tones, he never lost
the clarity on his resolve or purpose. His gentle manner is
relaxing. It wills the audience to listen and contemplate
his cause, whether for or against it. His passion showed only
that he speaks to inform, not to convert.
Italie discussed, in the USU, being fired from his minimum
wage job sewing Army and Navy clothes for Goodwill Industries
on Oct. 22 in Miami.
Italie, a Socialist Workers Party candidate in the Miami mayoral
campaign, was fired for speaking out against the war in Afghanistan
and supporting Cuba's communist revolution. He was told that
because of his views, he could not work at the nonprofit organization,
which has a contract with the U.S. government to make clothes
and flags for the military.
Italie said a company manager called him into his office after
work on the day of the firing and said, "I have been
assigned to tell you that because or your views of the U.S.
government, you are a disruptive force and cannot work here
any longer."
Goodwill Industries Chief Executive Officer Dennis Pastrana,
in an article published by The Miami Herald on Oct.30, said,
"We cannot have anyone who is attempting to subvert the
United States of America."
Italie said he believes the firing was a violation of free
speech. What concerns him more is that he never once spoke
out about his views during work, saving them for public debates
with other mayoral candidates.
"I believe that the Bush administration is taking advantage
of the events of the World Trade Center to expand U.S. military
and economic domination of Middle East," Italie said.
Italie spoke out against what he said he believes is the hypocrisy
of war saying that the U.S. government claims to fight the
war for the advancement of human rights, when it isn't even
fulfilling that promise within the United States.
He supported his claim of hypocrisy by the FBI allegedly torturing
people for information, the government listening in on suspected
terrorists' conversations with their lawyers and the use of
military tribunals which would allow secret evidence and would
not allow defendants to use defense layers.
He said he also believes the outcome of this war will only
lead to more destructive wars.
"I believe this war is wrong, and I think more people
will come to see it as wrong," he said. "The Taliban
was created by the U.S. when [Afghanistan] was fighting the
Russians, and the Northern Alliance was created from the same
roots."
When asked what he thought of Afghan women who are profiled
as appreciative of the United States for their new freedoms
he said he believes those changes are only superficial.
Though he speaks firmly against the war, Italie said he is
more firmly devoted to the fight for human rights. He said
his speaking tour is to put political pressure on Goodwill
to rehire him and make other companies think twice before
violating peoples' right to free speech.
Nan Bailey, a sewing machine worker for Fortune Fashions and
a member of the Socialist Workers Party in Los Angeles, heard
about Italie's firing through the party's newsletter and immediately
decided to organize for Italie.
"I think it's an outrage," said Bailey. "I'm
concerned that this does not become a precedent for other
bosses."
Bailey organized a group of people in an effort to put political
pressure on the mayor of Miami. This group distributes materials
and helps fund-raise to pay for Italie's speaking tour and
legal expenses.
"I am very proud of him for speaking out," said
Bailey. "He's just a normal person, he didn't ask for
this to happen to him. I've heard of others who've been fired,
but are too intimidated to speak. We think it will have an
impact on the mayor of Miami to have protests all the way
from California."
Italie has been an advocator for the Socialist Workers Party
for the past 25 years. After reading the autobiography of
Malcolm X, he was inspired to take action.
"[Malcolm X] is a man who told the truth in the clearest,
most revolutionary way," said Italie. "He inspires
millions of people of all backgrounds. [The book] made me
decide to look more closely at what was going on in the world."
Italie said the Socialist Workers Party is based on the workers
and farmers fighting for rights and for government supports.
The party organizes war protests, supports unions, defends
abortion rights and protests police brutality.
This weekend, Italie joined a picket line to support Forever
21 workers who have said they are owed thousands of dollars
in back pay, he said. He will then speak in New York. Following
that, he will be traveling and speaking wherever he is invited.
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