Happy International Workers Day!

Howdy Comrades!

Happy International Workers Day!  At this time here in the United States, May 1 should become a more important date on the calendar as the 99% confront the tremendous economic contradictions of the one percent who dominate our economy and politics.  Workers in other countries face tremendous hardships from lower wages and drastic cutbacks in benefits.  At this moment, we seem to face an uphill battle but this could change as more and more low and middle class folks finally snap to how they are being exploited by governments controlled by plutocrats.  We will see how these trends evolve next May first.

Regards,

Chairman Mal

PS:  I'm overjoyed to paste a copy of an article below concerning the escape of Chen Guangcheng.  I doubt he will be allowed to remain in China as he wishes because he threatens economic relations between the CPC and the United States.

Running blind: Details emerge of Chinese activist's dramatic escape By Alexa Olesen ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: 9:26 p.m. Monday, April 30, 2012 Chen Guangcheng's blindness was a help and a hindrance as the Chinese activist made his escape past the security cordon ringing his farmhouse. He knew the terrain - he had explored his village in rural China as a blind child and moved as easily in darkness as in daylight. He was alert for the sounds of people, cars and the river he would have to cross. But he stumbled scores of times, arriving bloody at a meeting point with a fellow dissident - the first of an underground railroad of supporters who eventually escorted him to safety with U.S. diplomats. A self-taught lawyer who angered authorities by exposing forced abortions, Chen is now presumed to be under U.S. protection, most likely in the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. Details of his improbable escape - making his way last week through fields and forest, then being chased by security agents in Beijing - are emerging in accounts from the activists who helped him. The 41-year-old activist hatched his escape plan months ago with a simple idea - he would just lie still, said Bob Fu, founder of the Midland-based rights group ChinaAid and one of a handful of people to speak to Chen since he fled his village. For weeks on end, Chen stayed in bed, saying he was too feeble to rise. In fact, Chen wasn't well; his stomach was bothering him as it had for years. But he exaggerated his condition to lull the guards into a sense of complacency. The ruse worked. The guards didn't look in on him constantly, assuming he was still bedridden, and when he escaped under cover of darkness, it took three days for them to notice. He did a darn good job. ... He prepared for months, at least two months," Fu said. He didn't really move much, just laying in bed and making the impression that he couldn't move. The night was cool with just a sliver of crescent moon in the sky on April 22, when Chen slipped out of his farmhouse in Shandong province. Blinded by fever as a child, Chen grew up exploring the nearby fields and dirt paths sightless, so he had his bearings. He followed a path to a field and from there took a road he knew would lead him to a narrow river. After crossing it, he entered a wooded area that gave way to less familiar territory, ground that continually tripped him up. He fell at least 200 times, he would tell his supporters. He walked for hours, trying to put as much distance between himself and his heavily guarded home as possible before daring to slip a battery into his mobile phone and call He Peirong, a Nanjing-based English teacher-turned-activist who had promised to help. She was waiting with a car. When she finally found him, Chen was wet, covered in mud and blood, and had numerous cuts and bruises. He was in very unbelievable shape when he was picked up," said Fu, citing a conversation with He. Chen "was trembling, was physically weak. ... But he was determined to escape from that miserable condition. He herself was detained Friday by police. Hours before, she said she had been in contact with Chen's relatives, who told her that when the local village chief discovered Chen was gone, "he was furious. Authorities beat Chen's wife, his brother and his adult nephew, she said. In Beijing, Chen was mainly aided by Guo Yushan, founder of a think tank set up in 2007. He also met with activists Hu Jia and Zeng Jinyan. They said that Chen insisted he had no intention of leaving China. He wants justice ... and he doesn't want to go abroad, doesn't want exile," Zeng said. Despite Chen's desire to stay in China, Fu said that China and the U.S. are close to a deal that would see Chen and his family given asylum in the U.S. It could be announced within days, he said Monday.