Harris interviewed by Iowa campus paper
Reprinted below is an article that appeared in the October 16 issue of the Iowa State Daily, newspaper of the Iowa State University at Ames, Iowa. The article is entitled "Socialist candidate visits exhibit."
BY RYAN BROWN
Socialist Workers Party Presidential Candidate James Harris visited the Palestinian Holocaust exhibit at the Memorial Union Monday afternoon to support the Palestinian community.
"[The Socialist Workers Party] supports the Palestinians and their movement to regain their land," said Harris, a former warehouse worker. "The United States is not an unbiased participant, and U.S. troops should not be in the Middle East."
The exhibit Harris visited was sponsored by the ISU [Iowa State University] Muslim Student Association.
He said Socialists want the working class to mobilize and fight for itself, and he said he hopes this can be accomplished in the Middle East.
"[The Palestinians, ] land was taken away unfairly," said Harris, a member of the Union of Needletrades from Atlanta. "All they want is their land back."
Secretary of State Chet Culver invited Harris to participate in a debate for young people in Des Moines, but Harris supporter Edwin Fruit, candidate for U.S. Congress, 4th district, said the debate process was biased.
"The Republican and Democratic representatives were given a half hour each while the third-party representatives were given 15 minutes for all of them," Fruit said.
Although Harris said he is not in the presidential race to win, he did stress that third-party candidates should be allowed to debate. If he were allowed to debate, he said he would like the American people to know that the working class has not felt the economic boom.
"Farmers have to work two jobs in order for them to support themselves," Fruit said. "[The farmers] should make enough money from what they produce to support themselves."
He said Socialists want to provide totally free education and health care.
"Health care can be free to everyone from birth to death," Fruit said. "Preventative is less expensive." He said many Americans wait until they are sick before visiting the doctor.
Fruit said Socialists believe there should be no taxes for people who make $75,000 or less. He said the tax burden should fall on the rich and big corporations.
To accomplish the goals of the Socialist Workers Party, Harris said, would require a collaborative effort of the entire working class. He said this effort would not take place with the election of either of the two mainstream presidential candidates into office.
"By voting for a Republican or Democrat, you are voting for the lesser of the two evils," Harris said. "By voting for them, what have you really won?"
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