HEROES
A ‘NOBLE’ NOBEL PEACE PRIZE
Former President Jimmy Carter
When Jimmy Carter left the presidency in 1980, he didn’t just trek back
to Georgia to sit on the porch, crack peanuts and drink Billy Beer. Since
then, through the Carter Center, an Atlanta-based organization devoted to
global peace and social justice, he has been trying to bring peace to places
from Haiti to North Korea. He’s spent the past two decades traveling
around the globe monitoring elections, promoting human rights, and providing
health care and food to the world’s poor.
Carter was awarded the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize for his decades of work seeking peaceful solutions and promoting social and economic justice. As Carter accepted his prize, with drumbeats of war pounding in the background, he noted that war may sometimes be necessary, but it is always “evil.”
WHEN DAVID BEATS GOLIATH
AK Steel Coshocton Works Mill workers
Last year, AK Steel’s Coshocton Works Mill used some of the toughest
anti-union tactics money can buy to stop the plant from organizing. But the
464 workers stood strong, refusing to allow the company to divide them.
Staying one step ahead of the union busters, workers neutralized anti-union ads, videos and other propaganda. They’re now negotiating their first contract.
“They tried to get the community against us, but we are the community,” said Terry Moore, a 15-year veteran.
Coshocton mill workers: tough as steel, smooth as stainless.
FIGHTING FIRE WITH IRE
International Association of Fire Fighters
As much as firefighters were our heroes in the rescue efforts after the 9/11
attacks, they stood just as tall in 2002 when President Bush slapped them
in the face and then tried to stand on their shoulders for another photo op.
In an angry response to Bush’s rejection of a $5.1 billion appropriations bill that included $340 million to fund fire departments, the union voted unanimously to formally protest a national tribute (where Bush spoke) for the nearly 500 firefighters who lost their lives in 2001, including 343 who died on 9/11.
“Don’t lionize our fallen brothers in one breath and then stab us in the back by eliminating funding for our members to fight terrorism and stay safe,” said the union’s General President Harold Schaitberger. “President Bush, you are either with us or against us. You can’t have it both ways.”
