Sam Manuel will serve as the Militant’s new Washington, D.C., bureau chief. Working out of Washington, he will be providing Militant readers with coverage on developments both there and in the broader Southeast region. Manuel’s reporting in recent years has ranged from struggles by farmers in the South to the fight for women’s rights to demonstrations against Washington’s war moves in the Mideast. Manuel will continue to build the socialist movement in Washington, D.C.

Manuel, 53, has been active in the socialist movement since 1970. Over the past year he worked as a garment worker in the Washington area and was a member of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE); he previously worked there in a meat packing plant. In the 2002 elections he was the Socialist Workers candidate for mayor of Washington, D.C., where he gained ballot status, spoke in candidate debates, and won a broad hearing. Last fall he was actively involved in organizing a speaking tour for Cuban revolutionary leaders Víctor Dreke and Ana Morales throughout the South.

We are welcoming back Malapanis to the Militant staff. He has moved from Miami, where he helped build the socialist movement for the past three years, working as a meat packer. In Miami he was, among other things, active in work in defense of the Cuban Revolution. He has also been part of Young Socialists delegations to meetings and gatherings of the World Federation of Democratic Youth, collaborating with anti-imperialist youth organizations from around the world. In the 2000 elections he was the Socialist Workers candidate for U.S. Senate from Florida.

As a Militant field correspondent, Malapanis covered political developments in Florida, from the campaign to free five Cuban revolutionaries locked up in U.S. prisons to struggles by garment workers. He also led international reporting trips, such as covering the events in Yugoslavia following the October 2000 popular upsurge that brought down the Milosevic regime. Last July he headed a reporting team to Venezuela to provide firsthand coverage of the sharply polarized events there.

Malapanis, 44, previously served on the Militant staff from 1991 to 2000, and edited the paper for several years. He has also traveled to the Balkans, the Middle East, Korea, Cuba, and other parts of South America to cover political developments for the paper. Martín Koppel, the previous Militant editor, remains the editor of the Spanish-language Perspectiva Mundial and a member of the Militant staff.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home