The explanation added to the article to define the word colonia as "a community of makeshift dwellings" is undoubtedly a common definition of the term. However, locally many people refer to neighborhoods as colonias without intending this characterization.

In this instance, the homes built by the residents are not intended to be temporary or makeshift at all. Many are completely permanent and have been on site for more than 25 years. Some, while starting out as trailers or other mobile structures, have had rooms added on over time. A large number of the dwellings have been passed down from parents to their children on their current sites. Additionally, all the residents pay taxes on their property--most of them at rates much higher than many residents of neighboring towns.

In talking to residents, many point to the skyrocketing land prices in the area as the motive for the denial of public services and high tax rates. The local rich are well aware that if they can repossess or somehow gain ownership of the neighborhoods--legally or otherwise--the lots would sell for a handsome price after only rudimentary development.

Communities of makeshift homes are not uncommon in the Texas countryside. Shantytowns of windowless, tar paper shacks and barrios of "shotgun huts" (commonly referred to as "mexiquito") remain a bitter memory to Texas workers who come from rural communities and still represent daily reality for tens of thousands of impoverished proletarians and semiproletarians. The neighborhoods discussed in the article, however, are somewhat different.

Steve Warshell
Houston Texas
 
 
GE workers rally
About 1,000 General Electric workers and supporters held a rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, June 3 in this industrial city, the location of the world's largest manufacturer of locomotive engines. Some 3,800 workers there are represented by United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) Local 506. GE workers represented by the International Union of Electrical Workers and the International Association of Machinists in five other states were there, joined by other unionists from Pennsylvania and Ohio. There was also a sizable contingent from R.A.G.E. (Retirees Association of General Electric). This was the latest in a series of rallies across the Midwest leading up to the June 25 expiration of the company's contract with 37,000 workers in 14 national unions. At the rally several speakers pointed to the hard line taken by the company at the current negotiations being held in New York City. The main issues for the workers are the low pensions and allowing them to retire after 30 years. GE negotiators want to have a lump sum payment instead of pay raises, increased medical payments by workers, and changes in the seniority and job classification system. The company also wants to replace the current three-year contract with one that lasts five or six years.

The next rallies are in Fort Wayne, Indiana, on June 10 and in Lynn, Massachusetts, on June 16.

Henry Hillenbrand
Cleveland, Ohio
 
 
Write more about Asia
As a Sri Lankan, I know that 70 percent of the people in my country are getting less than $2 per day. There were two insurrections against the capitalist government led by the leftist group in 1971 and 1989. Both times it came to an end with brutal massacres. In 1989, more than 60,000 socialists were killed by the government.

Day by day people are losing their rights. The capitalist rulers have carried out a civil war against the separatists in the north and east of Sri Lanka. An unending civil war coupled with the suppression of the peoples' rights in Sri Lanka has driven the people towards separatism.

This is the wretched situation in Sri Lanka and this may be the same in India and in other South Asian countries. So, it would be better if we could have the opportunity to read more news about Asia in the Militant.

John Ravi
Christchurch, New Zealand

The letters column is an open forum for all viewpoints on subjects of interest to working people. Please keep your letters brief. Where necessary they will be abridged. Please indicate if you prefer that your initials be used rather than your full name.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home