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   Vol.66/No.5            February 4, 2002 
 
 
25 and 50 years ago
 
February 4, 1977
NEW YORK--"Who were the women who died from back-alley abortions before the 1973 Supreme Court decision?" asked Dr. Keneth Edelin. "By and large they were poor women; very often they were Black women."

The 250 women and men participating in a teach-in here to "Defend a Woman's Right to Choose" agreed. The January 22 meeting protested the Hyde amendment to withhold Medicaid abortions, the Supreme Court ruling attacking maternity benefits, and increase sterilization abuse.

Edelin is the Boston doctor who was convicted of manslaughter for performing a legal abortion. His conviction was overturned in December.

Describing the horrors of pre-1973 botched illegal abortions, he declared, "We must never let this happen again!"

All speakers agreed that the women's movement and its supporters must come together to fight these attacks on women's rights.

Greetings were read from feminists in Italy, France, and England. The New York meeting, in turn, sent a message to the National Tribunal on Abortion Rights scheduled for London on January 29.

Pat Wright, a day-care worker and former SWP congressional candidate, told the meeting, "Some women have been saying, 'Don't rock the boat. Give Carter a chance.'

"Carter has had lots of chances. Let's give ourselves a chance. Let's rely on our own strength. We need to be out in the street showing that 81 percent of the American people support a woman's right to choose abortion."

February 4, 1952
The great anti-imperialist movement that the Egyptian government has tried to keep under its moderate leadership burst out of official bounds on Saturday, Jan. 26. The people of Cairo, infuriated by the slaughter of Egyptian police in Ismailia by overwhelming British forces, engaged in tremendous anti-British and anti-U.S. riots.

Crowds vented their age-old hatred on all the symbols of imperialist domination. British, U.S. and French-owned banks, business agencies, movies, hotels, etc., were stormed by Egyptians and set afire. Gathering places of the arrogant colonialists, like Shepheard's Hotel, were particular targets of this Egyptian outburst against foreign oppression. The revolutionary temper of the populace is shown in the fact that there was no looting or indiscriminate destruction of property. Only buildings connected with the foreign imperialists or night clubs, operating while Egyptian patriots were giving their lives in the Suez area, were touched.

The immediate cause of the Jan. 26 outburst was the sudden offensive launched by the British the day before. Before dawn British troops invaded the heart of the city of Ismailia outside the Canal Zone, surrounding Egyptian police barracks and the Governor's mansion.

Though in a hopeless military position, the Egyptian police refused to surrender and held out for six hours. British artillery pounded the defenders and tanks crashed through the walls of buildings. Even then British soldiers had to take the flaming buildings room by room in hand-to-hand battle.  
 
 
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