Sen. John Kerry and President George W. Bush both make empty promises just to get elected, and… Sen. John Kerry and President George W. Bush both make empty promises just to get elected, and both support imperialism and capitalism, the vice-presidential candidate of the Socialist Workers Party said during a Wednesday night speech.

Arrin Hawkins, the 29-year-old candidate, spoke to an intimate crowd in Friendship’s Quiet Storm Cafe, addressing what she described as the lack of attention Bush and Kerry, D-Mass., give to the issues concerning the worldwide working class.

The current debates between these two candidates have shown where their true interests lie, Hawkins said, adding that they will increase “the assault on the working class.”

“Our campaign is different. We start with workers and farmers that stand against [big business],” she said.

According to Hawkins, there can be no socialist campaign without addressing Third World countries eventually removing the shackles of imperialism, which, she added, capitalism needs to prevent progression for the working classes in Third World countries.

The condition of Haiti currently reflects the consequences of direct imperialist policies, which have caused a significant lack in infrastructure repair and left about 300,000 citizens deserted after the series of tropical storms and mudslides devastated the island, Hawkins said.

Hawkins described the recent and numerous union battles across America, including the United Mine Workers of America’s fight for representation in Utah, and asked, “How do we fight against imperialism?”

“By organizing a society where workers and farmers are united,” she said, answering her question.

Strengthening worker and farmer solidarity across America, and even on a transnational scale, remains a priority to the Socialist Workers Party campaign. Healthcare also needs immediate reform, she added, because the non-nationalized healthcare system has caused a glaring number of Americans to live without adequate care.

“In America, healthcare is run for profit,” she said.

In defining the America she and her party members envision, Hawkins said, “we are talking about a working class democracy” where millions fight for each others’ rights.

“Capitalism is a system that needs to exploit,” she said. “What we call for is an end to exploitation.”

During the question-and-answer period, Hawkins received a question about what she would have done if she were in office on Sept. 11, 2001. She responded that her anti-capitalist/anti-imperialist agenda would not have called for such a response as was given, because “these kinds of attacks are an example of what imperialism does.”

Kerry and Bush’s attitudes about workers’ rights on an international scale represent a significant difference between their campaigns and the SWP campaign.

Kerry and Bush are oriented not on a world perspective, but on an “America-first” agenda, while the Socialist Workers Party campaign stresses industrial development and electrification in Third World countries, Hawkins said.