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Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Oct. 12, 2000
issue of Workers World newspaper
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Moorehead-La Riva wins ballot spot
By Workers World Milwaukee bureau
In mid-September the Wisconsin State Elections Board verified that Monica Moorehead and Gloria La Riva, presidential and vice-presidential candidates of Workers World Party, will be on the November ballot in Wisconsin. Supporters were able to solicit nearly 3,400 valid signatures, far more than the 2,000 minimum need to qualify the candidates.
Moorehead is an African American activist well known for her work in support of Pennsylvania death row political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal. She was a key organizer of the national rally held last spring at New York's Madison Square Garden to demand a new trial for Abu-Jamal.
La Riva, a Chicana activist, is co-director of the West Coast office of the International Action Center, an anti-war organization founded by former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark. La Riva is a national leader of the movement to end the U.S. blockade of Cuba. Last year she traveled to Belgrade, Yugoslavia, with Clark to document the effects of the U.S./NATO bombing of civilian areas.
Both women are labor unionists. Moorehead is a member of the National Writers Union/Auto Workers Local 1981, while La Riva is active in the Typographers union.
Together, Moorehead and La Riva make up the only all-woman ticket in this year's presidential election. Moorehead is the only African American woman running for the top office.
The two candidates were on the ballot in Wisconsin in 1996, when they campaigned against the draconian "welfare reform" program known as W-2. That year they received more votes than any other socialist candidates in the state.
This year their campaign emphasizes the struggle against racism, police brutality, the death penalty and the prison-industrial complex.
Moorehead was the invited guest Sept. 27 on the "Katherine Dunn Program" on Wisconsin Public Radio. The hour-long call-in show, carried by 18 stations in five states, focused on why socialism is the real solution to the problems of capitalism.
Moorehead also raised the issues of fighting back against Wisconsin's welfare repeal and supporting Abu-Jamal. Most callers were friendly and supportive.
Moorehead and La Riva will visit Wisconsin from Oct. 25-28. On Oct. 25 they will speak at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, at an event sponsored by the UWM Progressive Student Network. Other public forums are planned in Green Bay, Stevens Point, LaCrosse and Madison.
To get involved, contact the Wisconsin Committee for Moorehead & La Riva at (414) 374-1034 or
e-mail ajrc@execpc.com.
For Wisconsin tour updates, visit the Web site www.vote4workers.org.This article is copyright under a Creative Commons License.
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