April 2011 Break the Chains is a news and discussion forum for supporters of political prisoners, prisoners of war, politicized social prisoners, and victims of police and state intimidation.
This free academic journal is organized and updated autonomously of the disbanded Break the Chains Prisoner Support Network formerly based in Eugene, Oregon. While this collection of articles shares several of the same concerns as the old Break the Chains collective, no formal organization exists behind this publication.
The purpose of this publication is to share news and current events with prisoners. Information within this document comes from a variety of sources posted to the Break the Chains website. Please help print this out and send it to a prisoner.
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Death toll rises as Syria crackdown continues
At least four deaths reported in Deraa as security forces storm a mosque after shelling the flashpoint city.
May 1, 2011 Al Jazeera
Video: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/04/2011430174959835564.html
Syrian forces have continued their military crackdown in the flashpoint city of Deraa, seizing control of a mosque and shooting dead the son of its imam, witnesses say.
Four people were reportedly killed as the southern city came under heavy shelling and gunfire on Saturday, as residents attempted to bury those killed a day earlier during Friday's "day of rage" protests against the government.
"We are totally besieged. It is a tragedy. Many houses are levelled by shelling from the army. For the past six days we haven’t seen an ambulance," one witness told Al Jazeera via telephone, as gunfire rang out in the background.
"We are keeping the bodies of the dead in refrigerator trucks, but many bodies are still lying in the streets. Many of the bodies are bloated and are reeking."
Residents said Syrian forces fired at protesters in neighbourhoods throughout the city, as tanks reportedly surrounded the Omari mosque in the north.
"They are shooting at houses, both the tanks and the soldiers. The most intense fire is at the Omari mosque," one resident told Al Jazeera.
"The bullets are flying straight over my head as we are talking: It's so close. The humanitarian situation is very bad: There's no food, no medicine, no electricity. We are collecting rain water to drink," the second witness said.
Witnesses later told the Reuters news agency that Syrian forces had stormed the mosque, following heavy shelling. 2
Al Jazeera could not independently corroborate the witness accounts.
Heavy gunfire
Al Jazeera's Rula Amin, reporting from the capital, Damascus, said the latest developments reveal how quickly the situation in Deraa is deteriorating.
Rula Amin reports from Damascus on the latest developments
"In the past few days, Syrian television has been putting people on television saying that they are confessing that they belong to terrorist groups and that they were given money and weapons from different people in Deraa, including the imam of the Omari mosque," she said.
Reports said the imam's son was one of those killed on Saturday, shot dead because he refused to reveal where his father was hiding.
"We are told by residents that the imam was always asking for calm, for dialogue, and when I went to Deraa and I met him myself he did not say that people should carry guns or should fire at security forces.
"He was adamant that people have the right to protest, that things need to change in Syria.
Referring to the imam, our correspondent said: "He said something to me I will not forget: 'For the first time in my life, I feel like a free man' ... so people in Deraa are shocked that these accusations are being levelled at [him].
"They see him as a voice of moderation, and when they see someone like him is being targeted by security forces, they are scared and do not know what is coming next."
Baniyas rally
Thousands of people were rallying in the coastal city of Baniyas late on Saturday, holding candles and chanting "the people want to topple the regime" and "the Syrian people are one".
In Damascus, about 50 women marched near the parliament, holding signs in support of Deraa. Rights campaigners said eleven of the demonstrators were arrested.
Meanwhile, Adel Safar, the recently appointed prime minister, said his government would draw up a "complete plan" of political, judicial and economic reforms, state news agency SANA reported.
SANA quoted Safar as saying he would set up committees to propose new laws and amendments to legislation in those areas.
Activists said at least 62 people had been killed in nationwide clashes on Friday, as when tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets.
Meanwhile, authorities said nine members of the security forces were killed by "terrorist groups".
3 Pro-democracy protests were held against the government of president Bashar al-Assad in most cities and major towns after Muslim weekly prayers, as on past Fridays for a month.
The protesters pledged new countrywide demonstrations from Sunday at the start of what they called "the week of breaking the siege".
Demonstrations are also expected to take place on Sunday in Deraa, which has been besieged by security forces since Monday, along with the Damascus suburb of Douma.
Activists have called for rallies on Monday in Damascus, Tuesday in the northern towns of Baniyas and Jableh, Wednesday in Homs, Talbiseh and in Tall Kalakh on the border with Lebanon, and night vigils on Thursday.
Friday's deadly Day of Rage protests gripped many Syrian cities and towns, the London-based rights group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told the AFP news agency, with 66 people reported killed, 33 of them in Deraa.
The Committee of the Martyrs of the 15 March Revolution gave a slightly lower overall death toll for Friday, saying 56 people were killed, including 33 in Deraa and 25 in the central province of Homs.
The group said in a statement after the bloodshed that a total of 582 people have been killed since protests erupted on March 15 by security forces firing live rounds and tear gas.
May 3rd: Rev. Joy Powell court date - political prisoner for resisting police abuse from Sarah Buckley [email protected]
Hey Everyone, I wanted to give folks a heads up about Rev. Joy Powell's court date scheduled for Tuesday May 3rd at 9:30am in Albion New York. Rev. Joy Powell was an community activist and leader and was targeted for her outspoken stance on Police Brutality & misconduct, Gentrification and community empowerment. Joy drew strong connections and connected the dots that led to the dis-empowerment and oppression of her community. In Joy's words-
"...realizing violence and poverty ran hand in hand. I began to hold press conferences concerning my strong views of injustice..."
There will be at least 2 cars leaving from buffalo at 8 am Tuesday May 3rd.
Message Sarah Buckley or contact me [email protected] if you are interested in coming. there is room!
We need to show that people like Joy are not alone and they have support.
We'll be heading to Albion to meet other supporters of Joys from Rochester, NYC and Albany. This will be a great oppurtunity to stand up for those took stands the community. This kind of underhanded, illegal targeting of activists can not be tolerated. We have to stand together. Please come out if you are interested contact me [email protected] or 886-0544 there is room! 4
Brandon from Malcolm X Grassroots Movement was the one who informed me of this and if you want more information of the group of people coming from NYC please contact. Brandon King tel:757-319-7115>757-319-7115 [email protected] for more info about Rev. Joy Powell this website www.freejoypowell.org
Tuesday May 3rd, Orleans County Courthouse, 9:30AM to 5:00PM
Orleans County Courthouse Courthouse Square 3 South Main Street Albion, NY 14411-1497 Ph: 585.589.4457 http://www.freejoypowell.org
Rev. Joy Powell is an anti-police-brutality activist in Rochester, NY. In 2006, she was framed and sentenced to 16 years at Rochester State Penetentiary.
The Hunger Strike is Over (Chile) April 27th, 2011 325 Magazine
Received via email:
ENGLISH: Today, April 26th, our partners, kidnapped in the “Bombs Case” montage, have decided to finish -in the day #65- their hunger strike since February 21th. About the decision that they have taken, we’re waiting that the comrades themselves write a release with their reasons, because no ‘news’ will tell us how they feel or why the hunger strike is over, if it is not them themselves who tell us.
However, the fight for their freedom continues and now we must support them in their recuperation after the long fast, no only materially but morally too, as has been going on. So that the solidarity doesn’t stop. Our forces go for them.
That the fear doesn’t destroy solidarity… That the solidarity destroys prison.
KIDNAPPED BY THE STATE TO THE STREETS!
Voices from Solitary: Colorado Department of Corrections in Need of Correction
April 30, 2011 Solitary Watch by Jean Casella and James Ridgeway
For seven years, Clair L. Beazer has been an inmate in the supermax Colorado State Penitentiary in Cañon City–which, as we’ve written before, qualifies as the solitary confinement capital of the Western World. In this essay, Beazer describes the effects of years of solitary confinement, pointing 5 out that while it is particularly torturous for inmates already suffering from mental illness, this “interminable, indefinite” isolation also causes lasting psychological and physical damage to all prisoners who endure it.
Beazer notes that “at long last,” some hope is offered by the bill introduced in the Colorado state legislature to limit the use of solitary confinement. In an instance of grim irony, we received his essay, written last month, just a day before lawmakers chose to back away from most meaningful portions of the bill.
In most instances the law is a simple matter of doing what you should rather than what you want. One consequence of continuing to do what you want regardless is that a conscientious legislator someplace may find it necessary to propose a law to compel you to do what you should do.
Just such a circumstance has come about in the state of Colorado’s Department of Corrections (C.D.O.C.), of whom some are known to say the reason they’re called the “Department of Corrections” is because they’re always getting it wrong.
The C.D.O.C’s execrable practice of warehousing the mentally ill in lockdown 24/7 is unconscionable. To sentence men without due process to a solitary existence in a lonely cell with only the company of their psychoses and personal demons for interminable, indefinite periods, some lasting decades would and does appear on the surface alone indefensible. To further exacerbate their evil usage by holding them thus until their mandatory release date only serves to discharge infinitely more dangerous parolees into the public.
Enduring this type of incarceration has many debilitating effects, the most common being depression with accompanying apathy and lethargy. The minimal activity and lack of meaningful exercise can atrophy their legs and some can barely walk after years of inactivity, and you can bet that there is little market for ex-cons who can’t even walk a quarter mile after release.
Then there’s the other end of the spectrum, motivated, active, angry inmates that compulsively work out 2, 4, 8 hours a day in the fashion of the hardened vengeful convict portrayed by Robert DeNiro in the movie “Cape Fear.” For months, then years, then decades, driven by their isolation, not even allowed IN PRISON to walk out of a cell without a two or three-man escort. In restrains, handcuffs, shackles, bellychains, lock-boxes. Surrounded by thick concrete walls, high fences, barbed wire, razor wire, armed tower and perimeter guards, electrified kill fences.
Ominously and inevitably their long-awaited day arrives, and when it does the C.D.O.C. dutifully, imprisoned in full restraints, escorts them to the prison gates, where and when they unleash them upon the public. Not surprisingly, their recidivism rate is exponentially and in some cases horrifyingly higher, as is their toll on society…you know, the public the C.D.O.C. ostensibly exists to defend.
The public may want to consider if perhaps the Prison Industrial Complex (of which the C.D.O.C. is definitely a part with its Incarceration Capitol of the World designation and proud title) finds it more profitable to release their home-made monsters. After all, we all know that high-profile horrific crimes can and often do drive news cycles, and have for years. Surely after all these years of high-profile horrific crimes that lead the news cycles somebody, anybody, everybody must have noticed that they drive incarceration rates.
6 Even so, no one is surprised that the C.D.O.C. has come out in fierce opposition to the Senate Bill 176 (introduced by Sen. Morgan Carroll, if passed the C.D.O.C would need to limit the solitary confinement of mentally ill prisoners –Denver Post, March 14, 2011) , as they claim it is because they say there is no indication officials are abusing the use of solitary confinement. Please allow me, from my true insider perspective, to disabuse you of that notion because for those of us actually in solitary confinement, we say they are abusing the over-use of solitary confinement.
They also make the preposterous claim that the average stay is 18 months. Let me tell you that those numbers are about as an off the books as C.D.O. (Collateralized Debt Obligation) at AIG. I personally have been in Ad Seg for 7 years. Let me to a survey, to my immediate right 7 years, to my left 8 years, next to him 4 years and under me 10 years. In my 7 years, I’ve only witnessed 2 men get of Ad Seg. 2!
The C.D.O.C. is in need of correction and the honorable Sen. Morgan Carroll and Rep. Claire Levy are the conscientious lawmakers trying to write another C.D.O.C. with Senate Bill 176, which is a start, a good start, at least, at long last.
I (we) don’t have much hope up here in the shameless incarceration capital of the world, and maybe, just maybe these venerable legislators can compel the C.D.O.C to stop doing what it wants and force it to begin doing what it should.
You can read an earlier essay by Clair Beazer here, and write to him at the following address: Mr. Clair L. Beazer, CSP #49801, C.C.F., Box Number 600, Canon City, CO 81215-0600.
Bristol – Stokes Croft erupts into rioting again + Telepathic Heights evicted (UK)
Friday, April 29th, 2011 325 Magazine
Rioting erupts again late at night after a demo/party against the recent police brutality – The fighting breaks out of the activist ghetto and every underdog can become an instigator, mainly due to the police causing chaos through horse charges and riot unit surges – The tension grows deeper.
One week after the Telepathic Heights raid, people gathered to fight and protest police occupation, against the wishes of the hated ‘community leaders/spokespeople’, ‘business representatives’ and other pathetic individuals pleading ‘peace’ with the class enemies.
Running battles with police riot units all the way up Cheltenham road, burning barricades in St.Pauls, trouble in Cotham, widespread disorder and violent resistance against the cops in the affected areas. 15 people are reported by mainstream media as being arrested in the disturbance.
Reports circulating that Horfield prison has also erupted in a prison riot, news of which is being suppressed. Also, a few days earlier police had suppressed a film night about the riots held in a residential area with a massive police presence, leading the film to be shown in a residents back garden.
Let’s make fighting the police a hot and fun summer delight and spread the rage into other cities – Let’s see Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, London burning with an anti-police – anti-system fire! Ambush!
7 ‘let’s show these bastards what a real crisis looks like.’ Telepathic Heights evicted
29 April 2011
Telepathic Heights is stormed by over 100 police, riot unit units, helicopters, district shut down again. 4 squatters have barricaded themselves onto the roof and as of writing are refusing to come down. A crowd is gathering. Police climbing team in attendance. Police snatch squads active on the ground snatching folks they don’t like the look of, under the premise that they believe them to have been involved in violent disorder. Prisoners being taken to Southmead pig sty because Trinity police station is full of last nights lot. UPDATE: OFFICIAL ARRESTS FROM THE LAST 24HRS NOW NUMBER 30
Stokes Croft Riot after massive police raid against Telepathic Heights squat in Bristol (UK)
Saturday, April 23rd, 2011
Update 24.4.11: Reports of 2 comrades remaining inside the cells in Bristol. 1 comrade from Telepathic Heights, accused of manufacture + possession of molotovs + making threats with the items, plus 1 from the street, anarchist comrade and former soldier Elijah Smith. Elijah Smith was remanded, but was since granted bail. Due to administrative incompetence he is still in prison. Write to him: James Hutton AKA Elijah Smith, 19 Cambridge Road, Horfield, BRISTOL BS7 8PS. Others arrested that night have received charges or are on bail, whilst a few have already been before the judge receiving low penalties.
8 April 21, 2011. 10pm. A riot starts after a 160 strong multi-regional police force coordinated assault shuts down a district and breaks down the door of a squat named ‘Telepathic Heights’ in Bristol.
The cops then violently harass local people and get attacked in return. Telepathic Heights is in the busy cultural area of Stokes Croft, Bristol, where there are many bars, cafes, squats, community projects, etc. 300 people fight the police for hours and hours in response to the police occupation of the neighbourhood. A corporate supermarket is looted and destroyed, whilst none of the other (independently-owned) shops on the streets are touched in the disturbance.
Everyone is in the streets. Barricades are lit, the cops face an anger that has not been seen for a long time. It seems like it is just beginning. Bristol has been burning now for some time… it will be a hot year of discontent.
9 people are arrested: 5 from the street, and 4 from Telepathic Heights accused of possession and manufacture of molotovs.
Jericho Amnesty Movement LA chapter mtg Sat, 2:00 PM at So Cal Library
The LA chapter of Jericho Amnesty Movement will meet tomorrow, Saturday April 30 at 2:00 PM (following a noon meeting of the Peoples Justice Conference planning committee) at the Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research, 6120 S. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles (between Slauson and Gage). The main agenda item is planning for the Jericho workshop at the Peoples Justice Conference May 14 at LA Trade Tech College, in the form of a "courtroom drama" style People's Trial of the State for human rights violations and crimes against humanity in the case of the political prisoners and liberation movements. here's the script outline: 9
Proposed Jericho People's Trial on Human Rights Violations against Political Prisoners for Peoples Justice Conference
The proposal is to stage a mock trial of "The People vs. The State" on charges of perjury, murder, torture, human rights violations, and crimes against humanity. We would have a presiding judge or panel, and a lawyer representing the People (perhaps Nana Gyamfi and/or James Simmons? Guillermo Suarez?), a defense attorney for the State (a ringer, perhaps Jim Lafferty or Colleen Flynn from NLG?), and a series of witnesses for the People, plus one witness for the State (someone in an Obama mask). (3-5 minutes to present indictments, cast)
Witnesses for the People:
Hank Jones or Ray Boudreaux or other Panther elder -testify about torture, frame-ups, assassinations and shoot-out under direct examination, relate to continuing attack on SF 8. Cross-examination: Weren't you gun toting radicals? Defense of self-defense plus explanation of other survival programs (10-12 minutes)
Lawrence Reyes - testify about Puerto Rican Nationalists, Young Lords, Macheteros, etc, relate to Vieques and continuing struggles of students, labor. Cross examination: Weren't these people guilty of seditious conspiracy to overthrow the govt of the US in Puerto Rico? Defense of right to independence and self-determination (10-12 minutes)
Shorter testimony: Native (Corine of SB AIM?) re Peltier, other human rts violations (5-7 min) Chicano/Mexicano (Meztli of Brown Riders) re: Alvaro Luna Hernandez, Ramsey Muniz, ICE raids (5-7 min) Asians (Mo Nishida re Asian/PI prisoners) (5-7 min) European descent (Michael Novick re: Dave Gilbert, Tom Manning, Marilyn Buck, read from Daniel McGowan). Cross-examination: Don't people have their constitutional right to remain silent? Counter-attack on Grand Jury/FBI witch-hunt (5-7 minutes)
General T.A.C.O. - testify on impact on community of destruction of BPP (drugs, criminal mentality, mass incarceration, unchecked police terror), continuing attacks on freedom fighters (BR3, LA2, ankle GPS). Cross examination: Aren't you crazy radicals who plot to attack police stations? Defense of above-ground self-defense, watch-a-pig programs. (10-12 minutes)
Prosecution rests.
Defense calls Obama: These are all sad events of the past for which Bill Clinton has already apologized. I am proof that US is now a post-racial democracy. Cross-examination: Aren't you just a front man for empire? Remove Obama mask to reveal skull mask underneath it. (5 minutes)
Defense (State) summation: We did and do the same thing any state does to protect its interests and profits. (1 min)
Prosecution (People's ) summation: Guilty or murder (Fred Hampton), torture (SF8, Sekou Odinga), perjury (Geronimo, Mumia, Peltier), crimes against humanity (MOVE bombing). (2 min)
10 Judge addresses audience: ladies and gentlemen of the jury, have you reached a verdict?:
All: Guilty as charged
Honduras: Director of Radio Uno Survives Assassination Attempt
Date: Thursday, April 28, 2011
(Versión original en español, haz clic aqui)
The Committee of Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras (COFADEH by its Spanish initials), urgently denounces that at 11:30pm on Wednesday, April 27th, 2011, around ten armed men wearing ski masks attempted to assassinate Arnulfo Aguilar, the Director of Radio Uno in the city of San Pedro Sula, in front of his house.
Aguilar told COFADEH that he succeeded in locking himself into his home while the men surrounded the house trying to jump over the wall. He reports that he called the local Police Division #1 where he was told they would move immediately, however it was a full hour before, in a very indifferent manner, officers of Patrol #123 did no more than escort Aguilar to the central boulevard and left him there.
The General Coordinator of COFADEH, Bertha Oliva, attempted a series of calls to high-ranking officials of the police, even with the very Security Minister Oscar Alvarez, where she was told that their mobile phones were turned off and that the minister has left orders to not call him after 10 pm.
Arnulfo Aguilar has protective measures granted by the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights resulting from the series of attacks that he and his team at Radio Uno have suffered. The attacks include death threats, kidnappings, and attacks against the radio equipment itself, all taking place since Aguilar and the entire radio collective assumed a position of opposition to the coup d'etat of June 28th, 2009.
Aguilar denounced that in the last few months, various members of the collective have been victims of kidnappings and attempted kidnappings.
Aguilar told COFADEH that, “tensions have risen since April 26th when we began tackling the subject of the Armed Forces involvement in supplying weapons to the drug cartels.”
According to a US Defense Intelligence Agency report leaked by WikiLeaks entitled “Honduras: Military Weaponry Feeding the Black Weapon Market”, serial numbers found on anti-tank weaponry discovered in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico and San Andrés Island, Colombia, match the serial numbers of weapons that had been sold to Honduras. Beyond the weapons, the US authorities confiscated a series of M433 grenades from criminal organizations in Mexico, which can also be traced back to the Honduran military.
For COFADEH this latest attack against Arnulfo Aguilar is very worrying and, once again, places the State of Honduras in a delicate position given that it has done nothing to protect the lives of Aguilar or the Radio Uno collective. We have already seen the serious consequences that come when the state doesn't urgently implement these measures. Such as the case of 11 the journalist Nahum Palacios, who also received protective measures from the IACHR and yet was assassinated by numerous masked men armed with AK-47s, shot dead while heading to his home in Tocoa, Colon on the night of March 14th, 2010.
For all the reasons described above, we demand immediate actions to protect Aguilar, who succeeded in saving his life, but he has told COFADEH that he has concerns further actions could be carried out against him,
FOR THE FACTS AND THE CULPRITS
NO FORGETTING, NO FORGIVING
Committee of the Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras
COFADEH
Tegucigalpa, April 27th, 2011
Over 800 inmates escape Tunisian prisons
By BOUAZZA BEN BOUAZZA, Associated Press Apr 29, 2011
TUNIS, Tunisia – More than 800 inmates escaped on Friday from two Tunisian prisons after fires were set in cells, the official news agency said.
Soldiers and security forces quickly fanned out in a search of the fugitives and at least 35 were caught within hours, TAP said, citing military sources.
TAP reported that 522 inmates from the prison in Kasserine escaped after a fire in two cells, and another 300 inmates escaped from the Gafsa prison.
The two towns are both in Tunisia's center-west region, some 150 kilometers (about 95 miles) apart. Personnel at the prison in Gafsa were on strike at the time, likely making the mass exodus by inmates easier.
The North African nation has been hit by social unrest since the country's long-time autocratic ruler was ousted Jan. 14 in an uprising.
Some 11,000 inmates escaped from Tunisian prisons shortly after Zine El Abidine Ben Ali fled into exile. Of those, several thousand have been caught and nearly 2,000 turned themselves in after the Justice Ministry warned the escape could worsen their cases, TAP reported.
Earlier, in the capital Tunis, police fired tear gas at hundreds of Islamists protesting what they said were offensive comments toward Islam by two teachers.
Protesters chanted "God is Great," and carried banners including one reading "We do not pardon those who insult the prophet."
Several hours of peaceful protest degenerated when some demonstrators sought to take on police, who immediately fired tear gas.
The demonstration on the main Avenue Bourguiba was the latest since Ben Ali was brought down, hounded out of the country by protesters angry over unemployment, corruption and repression. 12
Tunisia's uprising prompted protests around the Arab world.
Guantanamo Detainees Stage Hunger Strike to Protest Confinement Conditions
Guantanamo detainee Fayiz al-Kandari, a Kuwaiti aid worker, lost 20 pounds taking part in a month-long hunger strike to protest his indefinite detention and conditions of his confinement.
Friday 29 April 2011 by: Jason Leopold, Truthout
Within the past month, more than 15 Guantanamo detainees protested an indefinite detention order signed by President Barack Obama in March that resulted in their relocation to another camp at the prison facility - where they said the conditions are worse - by staging a hunger strike, Truthout has learned.
Tanya Bradsher, a Department of Defense (DoD) spokeswoman, confirmed detainees staged a hunger strike, but she put the number at "less than ten."
However, Guantanamo guards said the hunger strike, which started around the first week of March and ended a little more than a week ago, also involved some of the 14 high-value detainees who are segregated and housed in Camp 7. Their actions are considered classified and would otherwise not be confirmed by the Pentagon, the guards said.
Bradsher said, "Detainees will hunger strike for various reasons, but most consider it a way to 'stay in the fight,'" a line of reasoning that serves to perpetuate the myth peddled by the Bush administration that all of the individuals imprisoned at Guantanamo are the "worst of the worst."
The DoD's own files on the detainees released by WikiLeaks last Sunday showed that a vast majority of them were innocent and were sold to the US as bounty.
Far from being an effort to "stay in the fight," the hunger strike detainees waged was simply a way for them to protest the conditions of their confinement and the executive order signed by Obama creating a formal system of indefinite detention. 13
Lt. Col. Barry Wingard, who represents Kuwaiti detainee Fayiz al-Kandari, one of the ten who spent the past month fasting, said his client was on a hunger strike, "due to the fact that he was forced to move [to a new camp] where the rules are more stringently enforced."
Wingard said al-Kandari, whose petition for habeas corpus was rejected last year, went from 150 to 130 pounds during the hunger strike.
Another Kuwaiti detainee, Fouzi Khalid Abdullah Al Awda, lost 25 pounds during the hunger strike, according to accounts other detainees gave to their lawyers.
Force-Feeding
Detainees who refuse nine consecutive meals are classified as hunger strikers. It's unclear if any of the detainees were force-fed by Guantanamo medical personnel, a procedure that in and of itself has been described as torture. Bradsher did not respond to specific questions about force-feeding. Wingard said al-Kandari was able to avoid being force-fed by earning "points" and eating a piece of fruit, for example. Al Awda, the other Kuwaiti detainee, was said to have taken the hunger strike seriously, avoided all food and fainted several times.
Guantanamo force-feeding kit. (Source: Pentagon/Wikimedia)
Guantanamo detainee Fayiz al-Kandari, a Kuwaiti aid worker, lost 20 pounds taking part in a month- long hunger strike to protest his indefinite detention and conditions of his confinement.
Bradsher cited a DoD report that said if military personnel had to resort to force-feeding detainees, the process would be administered in a "lawful" and humane manner."
Human rights groups, however, would beg to differ.
In January 2009, Jamil Dakwar, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Human Rights Program, sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates calling for an end to the Pentagon's force- 14 feeding policy, which requires guards and medical personnel to strap a detainee into a chair and secure his head to a metal restraint. The letter was prompted by reports that about 25 to 30 detainees waged a hunger strike to protest their indefinite detention.
Dakwar said, "force-feeding is universally considered to be a form of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment" and cited a 2006 United Nations report that said the manner in which detainees are force- fed, "are matters of grave and distinct human rights concerns."
According to the 2009 DoD report, entitled "Review of Department Compliance With President's Executive Order on Detainee Conditions of Confinement, "The current feeding program is being conducted solely as a medical procedure to sustain the life and health of hunger strikers."
The force-feeding policy parallels the Federal Bureau of Prisons policy and has been upheld by federal courts. The 81-page report describes how detaineed are force-fed and says it is considered "a medical procedure with the sole purpose of preserving life and health, and in accordance with Common Article 3 and DoD policy."
Enteral feeding is the process of providing nutritional support for a patient by passing a tube through the nose into the stomach (a nasogastric feeding tube), through which nutritional supplements, such as Ensure Plus or Boost Plus, can be infused. This is a common medical procedure used to safely provide nutrition to a patient who is not taking food by mouth, but whose intestinal function is intact (e.g., a patient whose jaw is wired shut). The nasogastric tube used is size 10 or 12 French, which would be 3.5-4.5 millimeters in diameter (slightly larger in diameter than a piece of cooked spaghetti but less than a pencil eraser). The tube should be well lubricated (viscous lidocaine should be offered, but some patients prefer other lubricants). After insertion of the tube, its placement in the stomach is confirmed prior to allowing the nutritional supplement to flow in from a hanging bag by gravity. This procedure usually takes about an hour, after which the feeding tube is removed. Once stabilized, most patients can be sustained on two feedings per day.
The DoD report was based on a two-week investigation of conditions at Guantanamo, which was conducted "to ensure all detainees there are being held 'in conformity with all applicable laws governing the conditions of confinement, including Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions,' pursuant to the President’s Executive Order on Review and Disposition of Individuals Detained at the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base and Closure of Detention Facilities, dated January 22, 2009."
The review concluded that the "conditions of confinement at Guantanamo" were in compliance with Common Article 3 of Geneva.
Stripped of Privileges
For people who take for granted the small luxuries in life, the complaints raised by the detainees that led them to stop eating may seem trivial and petty. But the little things are all these detainees have left to hold on to.
A majority of the detainees who staged the hunger strike had been housed at Camp 1 since at least 2008 and had become accustomed to certain living conditions, such as keeping their cell doors open while they prayed, having meals prepared with at least a minimum amount of care and being treated with some respect by the military guards. 15
Camp 1 closed down, but a single cell block remained open to accommodate ten detainees who spoke English, were well-educated and whom the DoD had segregated because the agency believed they were "troublemakers" and an "influence" on other Guantanamo prisoners, according to several Guantanamo guards.
The detainees who remained at Camp 1 included UK resident Shaker Aamer, an "enemy combatant" who has been imprisoned at Guantanamo since 2002 without charge and was brutally tortured and placed in solitary confinement for at least a year, according to an account he provided to one of his attorneys who repeated the statements in a sworn declaration released by the DoD in 2006.
An assessment on Aamer prepared by a military analyst in November 2007 and released last weekend by WikiLeaks portrays the man the government claims was a close associate of Osama bin Laden as a mythical figure. The military assessment, the veracity of which is questionable, states that Aamer controls other detainees, has the power to call on detainees to commit suicide, is "extremely egotistical," "manipulated debriefers and guard staff" and, on the advice of his attorney, Clive Stafford Smith, led a hunger strike in 2005 involving more than 100 detainees. Smith has vehemently denied the assertion and took to Twitter to ridicule the allegaiton.
Aamer did not participate in the hunger strike that began in early March and ended about a week ago, according to two Guantanamo guards currently stationed at the prison who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Consolidating Detainees
The circumstances behind the hunger strike unfolded in January and February, weeks before Obama issued his indefinite detention order, when Guantanamo officials began the process of permanently shuttering camps 4 and 1 and moved all of the detainees interned there to camps 5 and 6.
Candace Gorman, an attorney who represents an Algerian detainee named Abdal Razak Ali, noted on her blog on February 13 that in January, the military closed Camp 4, "the least restricted of the Guantanamo camps and moved all of the men to either camps 5 or 6. Both supermax facilities of the worst order."
"The men know that this is just the latest sign that the Obama administration has no intention of closing Guantanamo," wrote Gorman, whose client's petition for habeas corpus was recently denied by US District Court Judge Richard Leon.
In January, detainees at camps 5 and 6 marked the ninth anniversary of Guantanamo's opening by staging a "sit-in."
"After seeing reports of the uprisings in Tunisia the men started their own protest by putting up signs everywhere they had access," Gorman wrote. "Examples of some of the signs: 'where are the courts?' 'what about our rights?' 'where is democracy?' All very good questions."
Guantanamo officials told the ten remaining detainees in Camp 1 in February that they were going to be moved to Camp 5.
16 "They were told [Camp 5] would be better," said one Guantanamo guard. "They were told they could bring nonessential items they collected. But after they were transferred, those items were confiscated. They were essentially lied to. Overall, they just felt the living conditions were worse at Camp 5."
Being relocated to a new camp meant the detainees were now under the purview of a new camp commander, new guards and new rules. That meant they had to start over as if they had just arrived at Guantanamo.
"The guards were not treating them well when they got to Camp 5," said a military official knowledgeable about the detainees' relocation, who requested anonymity in order to speak openly about the issue. "The guards were a lot more rough on the new detainees. [The detainees] were restricted from going outside. Their mail was being opened. They asked that their food not be thrown together. This isn't how it was for them at Camp 1."
The detainees protested, but they were ignored. So they stopped eating. The hunger strike lasted about a month.
A little more than a week ago, it came to an end after Guantanamo officials agreed to some of their requests, which included meals that were carefully prepared, additional recreation time and the ability to pray together.
Wingard said al-Kandari is still hoping for justice, despite the fact that he lost his habeas case and will likely spend the rest of his life in Guantanamo without charge.
He said the former aid worker told him that, "Back in the Bush days, they would torture us, but at least we had a shot at eventually being released. Now, with Obama, they beat us up psychologically and make sure you know that no one is ever going to leave Guantanamo."
Spies in blue
Sarah Phelan sfbayguardian.com April 26, 2011
17 A secret memo indicates that SF cops may be working as FBI spies with no local oversight
San Francisco cops assigned to the FBI's terrorism task force can ignore local police orders and California privacy laws to spy on people without any evidence of a crime.
That's what a recently released memo appears to say and it has sent shockwaves through the civil liberties community.
It also has members of the S.F. Police Commission asking why a carefully crafted set of rules on intelligence gathering, approved in the wake of police spy scandals in the 1990s, were bypassed without the knowledge or consent of the commission.
"It's a bombshell," said John Crew, a long-time police practices expert with the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California.
The ACLU obtained the document April 4 under the California Public Records Act after a long battle. It's a 2007 memorandum of understanding outlining the terms of an agreement between the city and the FBI for San Francisco's participation in the Joint Terrorism Task Force.
And, according to Crew, it effectively puts local officers under the control of the FBI. "That means Police Commission policies do not apply," Crew said. "It allows San Francisco police to circumvent local intelligence-gathering policies and follow more permissive federal rules."
Veena Dubal, a staff attorney at the Asian Law Caucus, agreed: "This MOU confirms our worst fears," she said.
Dubal noted that in the waning months of the Bush administration, the FBI changed its policies to allow federal authorities to collect intelligence on a person even if the subject is not suspected of a crime. The FBI is now allowed to spy on Americans who have done nothing wrong and who may be engaged in activities protected by the First Amendment.
FBI activity under this new "assessment" category has since come under fire, and a recent report in The New York Times showed that the FBI has conducted thousands of assessments each month, and that these guidelines continue under Obama.
And if the feds do control San Francisco police policy, then the San Francisco cops could be 18 spying on innocent people a dramatic change from long standing city policy. "The MOU is disturbing," Police Commission member Petra DeJesus told the Guardian. "The department is assuring us that local policies are not being violated but it looks as if it's subject to interpretation."
It's the latest sign of a dangerous trend: San Francisco cops are working closely with the feds, often in ways that run counter to city policy.
And it raises a far-reaching question: With a district attorney who used to be police chief, a civilian commission that isn't getting a straight story from the cops, and a climate of secrecy over San Francisco's intimate relations with outside agencies, who is watching the cops?
SPIES LIKE US
San Francisco has a long and ugly history of police surveillance on political groups. SFPD officers spied on law-abiding organizations during the 1984 Democratic National Convention; kept files in the 1980s on 100 Bay Area civil, labor, and special interest groups; and carried out undercover surveillance of political groups focused on El Salvador and Central America. {not to speak of the 'red' squad, Cointelpro, the coordinated attacks on groups like the Black Panthers - cm}
Those abuses led the Police Commission to develop a departmental general order in 1990 known as DGO 8.10. The local intelligence guidelines require "articulable and reasonable suspicion" before SFPD officers are allowed to collect information on anyone.
Even those rules weren't enough to halt the spies in blue. In 1993, police inspector Tom Gerard was caught spying on political groups particularly Arab American and anti-apartheid organizations and groups Gerard described as "pinko" and selling that information to agents for the Anti-Defamation League.
As the ACLU and Asian Law Caucus noted in a December 2010 letter to Cdr. Daniel Mahoney: "That scandal was not just about the fact that peaceful organizations and individuals were being unlawfully spied upon and their private information sold to foreign governments, but that the guidelines adopted in 1990 had never been fully implemented by SFPD. No officers had been trained on the new guidelines and no meaningful audit had ever been implemented."
Over the years, the commission has tried to keep 19 tabs on police intelligence and prevent more spy scandals. The general order mandates that local police officials have to request general authority from a commanding officer and the chief to investigate any activity that comes under First Amendment protections and must specify in the request what the facts are that give rise to this suspicion of criminal activity. The order also states that the chief can't approve any request that doesn't include evidence of possible criminal activity.
Those requests are reviewed monthly by the Police Commission and there are annual audits of the SFPD files to monitor compliance so the notion that the local cops are joining the FBI spy squad without commission oversight is more than a little disturbing.
Officials with the FBI and SFPD are doing their best to reassure the local community that there's nothing to worry about. But so far their replies seem to duck questions about whether FBI guidelines trump local policies. For example, the MOU states that "when there is a conflict, [task force members] are held to the standard that provides the greatest organizational benefit."
We asked Mahoney to clarify: does that mean the local cops could be held to the FBI's standards?
"The San Francisco Police Officer(s) who are assigned to the Joint Terrorism Task Force always have and continue to be required to follow all SFPD's policies and procedures," Mahoney replied in a statement.
That's confusing; do they follow SFPD policies, or obey the MOU?
We asked FBI special agent-in-charge Stephanie Douglas whether SFPD officers are involved in surveillance and "assessments" (that FBI code word for creating spy files on individuals and groups) and whether they are identifying as SFPD or FBI officers.
"The FBI only initiates investigations on allegations of criminal wrongdoing or threats to our national security," Douglas replied April 21. "Our investigations are conducted in compliance with the Constitution, the laws of the United States, the Attorney General Guidelines, the Domestic Investigation and Operations Guide, and all other FBI policies."
Okay, that's typical FBI-speak. Here's more: "The JTTF is a task force comprised of FBI special agents, agents from other federal agencies, and 20 local police officers who have been officially deputized as federal task force officers (TFOs) who have the power and authority of a federal agent. Because all JTTF TFOs are actually de facto federal agents, they are required to operate under federal laws and policies when involved in a JTTF case."
So the cops are actually feds. But wait: "Our standard JTTF MOU recognizes, however, that the JTTF TFOs do wear two hats, as it were, and directs JTTF TFOs to follow his or her own agency's policy when it is stricter than the FBI policy under certain circumstances," Douglas concluded.
Again: not exactly clear, and not exactly reassuring.
"At some point they need to say whether SFPD officers are engaged in assessments," Crew said.
These questions have spurred the Police Commission and Human Rights Commission to schedule a joint hearing in May to discuss what the document means, why SFPD never alerted the civilian oversight authorities, and whether a clarifying addendum can be tacked onto the agreement.
SPY FOR US OR LEAVE
The concerns are likely to be intensified by recent developments in Portland, Ore.
Portland dropped out of the Joint Terrorism Task Force in 2005 over concerns that local cops would be violating privacy laws. But in November 2010, the FBI thwarted a bomb plot allegedly linked to terrorists, and city officials came under pressure to rejoin the JTTF.
But Mayor Sam Adams has insisted on language that would bar local cops from doing surveillance and assessments, which, apparently, won't fly with the feds.
On April 20, Willamette Week, the Portland alternative paper, wrote that Adams "effectively scuttled" Portland's reentry into its local JTTF because of his anti-spying language.
In an April 19 letter to Adams, U.S. Attorney for Oregon Dwight Holton stated that Adams' proposal of only allowing officers with the Portland Police Bureau to be involved in investigations and not in FBI assessments was a deal-breaker.
"Unfortunately, as currently drafted, the proposed resolution does not provide a way in which the PPB can rejoin the team," Holton wrote. "There is a single provision that stands as a 21 roadblock to participation specifically the provision that seeks to have the City Council delineate only certain investigative steps a task force officer can take part in. Specifically, the resolution seeks to dictate for the JTTF which stages of an investigation task force officers from the [Portland police] can work on."
"Investigation and prevention of complex crimes and terrorism are typically fluid and fast-moving," he added. "It makes no sense to ask [Portland police] officers to be in for one part of a conversation, but out for another part of the same conversation as investigators discuss findings from assessments, investigations, etc. in evaluating and addressing terrorist threats in Portland and beyond."
The message isn't lost on San Francisco civil liberties activists. If you don't let your cops join the spy squad, they can't be a part of the task force.
"It was one thing to join the JTTF 10 years ago when they were operating under guidelines that, while not to the ALCU's taste, were at least tied to some level of suspicion," Adams said. "But they have taken their procedures and guidelines and moved them to the far right. It's one thing to say that it's necessary for the FBI to do that, and quite another to say that local agencies have to forfeit their own policies and with no public debate or decision-making."
ASK THE FEDS FIRST
Further complicating the question of police oversight is the fact that George Gascón, who was police chief when civil liberties groups started asking for a copy of the MOU last fall, refused to turn over the document without asking the feds first.
In a Jan. 4 letter to the ACLU and ALC, Gascón and Mahoney stated that the SFPD could not speak to information about the duties, functions, and numbers of officers assigned to the Joint Terrorism Task Force "without conferring with our partners in the Federal Bureau of Investigation."
"I am sure you can appreciate the delicate balance we hold in crafting policy that not only supports our mission in the ultimate protection of life, but also in advancing democratic values through collaboration with the communities we serve," Gascón and Mahoney wrote.
And Gascón is now district attorney.
"It raises the question of accountability," said 22 Public Defender Jeff Adachi "We want to make sure that police officers working in the city, regardless of whether it be for the feds or the SFPD, are complying with general orders and policies established by the department. But when officers go on an assignment with the feds, we don't know if they are operating under parameters set by local law."
Unearthing the FBI's hitherto clandestine MOU with the SFPD appears to be yet another sign that local police are increasingly being subjected to federal policies not in keeping with local procedures.
As the Guardian previously reported, the 2008 decimation of San Francisco's sanctuary city legislation and the 2010 activation of the federal government's controversial Secure Communities program, which both happened during former Mayor Gavin Newsom's tenure, means that the city of St. Francis now ranks among the top 38 counties nationwide that are deporting "noncriminal aliens."
Dubal also noted that the FBI came to the SFPD in 1996 asking for help with the task force, but also sought a waiver from the Police Commission so officers could participate without having to follow local rules. "And within two weeks, then Mayor Willie Brown said, not in our town," Dubal said. "So in 1997, the SFPD said we are not going to join unless we can follow our own rules. And in 2001, when the SFPD joined, it was under an MOU that required them to comply with SFPD rules and was signed in 2002 by then-SFPD Chief [Earl] Saunders."
Dubal said that after local law enforcement agencies sign an MOU with the FBI, they designate and assign officers to work from FBI headquarters. "In the past, two SFPD officers, paid with San Francisco tax dollars, physically worked in the FBI's office in a secure room where you can only go if you have security clearance. But they still can't spy without reasonable suspicion, and they also need audits."
Crew and Dubal said that in a recent meeting, SFPD officials assured them that local police were following General Order 8.10, but that they are open to creating an MOU addendum to clarify this.
Crew and Dubal remain unsure if the FBI would be agreeable to signing off on that. They note that the FBI has previously stated that its JTTF has sensitive investigations going on so it can't give the public all the information. "Fine, but the issue is, Are these investigations based on suspicion, or are they based on religious 23 background, associations, ethnicity, and travel patterns?" Dubal said.
They also doubt that the MOU would even have surfaced if not for comments that then SFPD Chief Gascón made, first in October 2009, then in March 2010, that triggered an uproar in the local Muslim, Arab, and Pakistani and Afghani communities.
At the time, Gascón, who has a law degree and graduated from the FBI Academy, had just landed in San Francisco fresh from a stint as police chief for Meza, Ariz., where he drew praise for speaking out against Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's inhumane treatment of undocumented immigrants Given this seemingly progressive stance, Gascón shocked civil libertarians in San Francisco when he said he wanted to unearth SFPD's intelligence unit, which was disbanded amid scandal in the early 1990s.
"We have to realize that in the post-9/11 world, San Francisco is an iconic city, like New York, Washington. and Los Angeles," Gascón said. "If somebody wanted to make a big statement about something they disliked about America, doing it here would definitely get attention. We need to know what is going on under the surface of the city."
But Gascón did not say how a revived police spy unit, which had been shut down in large part due to Crew's work, would operate. And six months later, he upset Bay Area Muslims during a March 2010 breakfast by reportedly saying that the Hall of Justice building was not just susceptible to earthquakes, but also to an attack by members of the city's Middle Eastern community who could park a van in front of it and blow it up.
Gascón subsequently claimed that he "never referred to Middle Easterners or Arab Americans," but that he had instead singled out the Afghanistan and Yemen communities because they pose "potential terrorism risks"
"In light of Gascón's comments and his desire to resurrect the intelligence unit, people were asking, 'Is it possible that the SFPD is also doing the same thing?'" Dubal asked, noting that she started getting complaints in 2009 and throughout 2010 about the FBI.
"Folks were saying that the FBI was asking about their religious identity, their family situation, and their political activities," she recalled. "I certainly saw an upswing in innocent people being contacted. People were saying, 'What the hell? the FBI knocked on my door at 5 a.m.'"
24
COMMUNITIES UNDER SIEGE
A 2011 Human Rights Commission report documents frequent complaints from Arab, Muslim, and South Asian communities facing racial and religious profiling while traveling and unwaranted interrogation, surveillance, and infiltration by local and federal law enforcement personnel at their homes, places of worship, and workplaces.
The report recommended asking the supervisors and the Police Commission to "ensure that all SFPD officers, including those deputized to the Joint Terrorism Task Force, follow and comply with local and state privacy laws, including DGO 8.10."
On April 5, the Board of Supervisors voted 10-0 to approve a resolution, sponsored by Sup. Ross Mirkarimi and cosponsored by Sups David Chiu, Eric Mar, David Campos, and John Avalos, to endorse the HRC report.
All this is happening against the backdrop of FBI guidelines that have been loosened twice since September 2011, first by U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, then by Attorney General Michael Mukasey in the dying days of the Bush administration, and now by the Obama administration.
And as The New York Times reported in March, records obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request show that between Dec. 2008 and March 2009, the FBI began 11,667 assessments of people and groups for criminal/terror links, completed 8,605 assessments, and launched more than 400 intensive investigations based on the assessments. The FBI also told the Times that agents continue to open assessments at about the same pace
Crew noted that Mukasey's guidelines marked the first time since 1976 that the FBI has been allowed to do assessments and collect files without a suspicion that a crime has occurred.
Dubal observed that the most relevant documents to emerge from a recent FOIA request to determine if the FBI has engaged in disturbing intelligence gathering activities are those related to "geomapping."
"The materials are not particular to Northern California, but they show how FBI maps communities based in ethnic concentrations," Dubal said.
Dubal also pointed to the case of Yasir Afifi, an Egyptian American student from Santa Clara, who found an FBI tracking device on his car when he 25 took it in for an oil change. In March 2011, CAIR filed suit in Washington, D.C., alleging that the FBI violated Afifi's First, Fourth, and Fifth Amendment rights by failing to obtain a warrant.
DeJesus recently told the Guardian that the Police Commission was never made aware of the MOU's existence. "The chief should have checked in with the commission president, at the very least," she said. "The idea that they were not reporting this to anyone is disconcerting."
"The SFPD does not have the authority to enter into a secret agreement with the FBI whereby some of its officers are allowed to conduct intelligence operations in violation of the Police Commission's General Order 8.10," Crew added.
In a Jan. 25 letter to Mahoney, representatives from the ACLU and the ALC noted that "in the past, the SFPD had not previously deferred to the FBI on whether or how to openly address how San Francisco police officers will be supervised and held to well-established and painstakingly and collaboratively crafted San Francisco general orders."
"These are low-level investigations that require no criminal predicate, meaning that when initiating an assessment, FBI agents can conduct intrusive forms of investigation without any criminal suspicion," Dubal said. "These include interviewing innocent Americans, infiltrating organizations, using open source data to spy and surveil, going into religious centers such as mosques to spy and surveil, and recruiting and using informants."
URGENT-SUPPORT NEEDED FOR UIM-FIRST FOUNDING MEMBER
Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2011 From: [email protected]
URGENT SUPPORT NEEDED FOR UIM-FIRST FOUNDING MEMBER
Comrade Capers is currently in a bad situation and needs all outside support he can get. He's been put on Grade B (the hole) and is refused his right to a fair hearing on the charges, as well as to see a doctor. The CO's at San Quentin are messing heavily with him since last December, after they learned by reading his letters that he's one of the people who founded UIM-FIRST. They wrote him up for possessing a pen that he got from the hobby craft manager in December. He was allowed to have this pen, but was put on Grade B for nearly two weeks, until they finally asked the hobby craft manager about the pen. In the meantime did they stress him out so bad, that 26 they had to take him to an outside hospital to prevent him from suffering a heart attack. After that, he was put back on Grade A and the charges have been dropped.They openly hate on him for being a Muslim and for being part of UIM-FIRST. He was called a terrorist and especially three of the CO's try to put him back on Grade B and mess with him since then.One of them overheard how Mr. Capers talked to a female officer and how he told her he'd "cross her up if she continues to fuck with him." He didn't threaten her with physical violence! The female officer (Puerto Rican) and her partner (African-American) knew he was using street language and how he meant it, and therefore didn't write him up. The other CO who overheard them wrote him up for this statement on April 6th, taking advantage of an opportunity to put him on Grade B. The supervisor of the unit refused to sign the rules violation report, and the CO therefore went to another unit to get the signature he needed. The reason why Mr. Capers made this statement towards the female officer was that she refused to give him complaint forms he needed. He's sick since beginning of April and wanted to see a doctor, because he's been coughing blood, but they didn't give him an appointment. He still didn't see a doctor until today! He was put on Grade B on April 12th and all his property has been taken. Photos of his loved ones, food, clothes, writing material. Just everything. On April 20th did he go before the Institutional Classification Committee and was denied his right to a fair trial. They are supposed to schedule a hearing before they finally find him guilty, but they didn't do it because of "pending an investigation", and told him they call him back sometime later. The "investigation" can go on for months and until then will he remain in the hole. He has a right to this hearing to defend himself and present witnesses, but when he tried to talk and asked questions, was he told to be quiet and that "it is not the time for him to speak." He HAS a witness who will testify for him. This man was present when the incident occurred and said there was no problem until CO number 3 fabricated one. One of the African-American CO's told him "These white folks is after you Capers. They hate you."The only way to get him a fair hearing and medical treatment is outside support. They not gonna stop until they see there are people outside who watch them. The purpose of keeping him on Grade B for as long as possible is to interrupt all communication between him and the outside. He's not allowed to use the phone, they keep his mail for weeks, and he has no writing material and stamps until somebody in there gives him some. He needs urgently help, so if you are willing to support him than please write the 27 warden. They usually fear attention from outside and hopefully will it not only help to resolve the current problems, but also prevent further harassment for being part of UIM-FIRST and a Muslim. The warden's address is : SanQuentinStatePrison Attn. to Warden Mike Martel San Quentin, CA 94964
Mr. Caper's information is: Lee Samuel Capers 2-EY-50 SanQuentinStatePrison P.O. Box K-01264 (his CDCR #) San Quentin, CA 94974
All help you can provide is much appreciated and every letter makes a difference!!! Read his report about his situation at
Syrian rights group says 42 killed nationwide
By BASSEM MROUE, Associated Press April 29, 2011
BEIRUT – Security forces opened fire Friday on demonstrators trying to break an army blockade on the southern city of Daraa, while thousands of others across Syria defied a protest ban and denounced President Bashar Assad's harsh crackdown on a six-week uprising. At least 42 people were killed, including 15 in the march on Daraa, according to witnesses and a human rights group.
The protesters in cities across Syria — including the capital of Damascus — called for Assad's ouster, with some chanting "We are not afraid!"
Human rights activist Mustafa Osso said 42 people were killed, but the death toll could rise. His human rights group, based in Syria, compiles casualty tolls from the crackdown.
A witness in Daraa — the heart of the uprising — said residents stayed indoors because the city has been under siege by the military since Monday, when thousands of soldiers backed by tanks and snipers stormed in. People were too afraid even to venture out to mosques for prayers, the witness said.
"We are in our houses but our hearts are in the mosques," the witness said, speaking by satellite telephone and asking that his name not be published for fear of reprisals.
Large demonstrations broke out in Damascus, the central city of Homs, the coastal cities of Banias and Latakia, the northern cities of Raqqa and Hama, and the northeastern town of Qamishli.
In Damascus' central Midan neighborhood, witnesses said about 2,000 people marched and chanted, "God, Syria and freedom only!" in a heavy rain, but security forces opened fire with bullets and tear gas, scattering them.
"Oh great Syrian army! Lift the blockade on Daraa!" protesters chanted in 28 the Damascus suburb of Barzeh, according to video footage posted by activists on YouTube.
The government had warned against holding any demonstrations Friday and placed large banners around the capital that read: "We urge the brother citizens to avoid going out of your homes on Friday for your own safety." Syrian TV said the Interior Ministry has not approved any "march, demonstration or sit-in" and that such rallies seek only to harm Syria's security and stability.
Since the uprising in Syria began in mid-March, inspired by revolts across the Arab world, more than 450 people have been killed nationwide, activists say.
Assad's attempts to crush the revolt — the gravest challenge to his family's 40-year ruling dynasty — have drawn international criticism.
The U.S. hit three top Syrian officials, Syria's intelligence agency and Iran's Revolutionary Guard with sanctions. The sanctions affect Maher Assad, Assad's brother and commander of the Syrian Army's Fourth Armored Division, which is accused of carrying out the worst atrocities in Daraa; Assad cousin Atif Najib, the former head of the Political Security Directorate in Daraa Province; and intelligence chief Ali Mamluk, the White House said.
Although Assad himself is not among those hit with sanctions, officials said he could be named at a later date if the crackdown continues.
Assad's government says the protests are a foreign conspiracy carried out by extremist forces and armed thugs, not true reform-seekers.
Syrian TV said military and police forces came under attack Friday by "armed terrorists" in Daraa and the central city of Homs, killing four soldiers and three police officers. Two soldiers were captured, the report said. The station also said one of its cameramen was injured in Latakia in an attack by an armed gang.
Outside Homs, thousands chanted "We don't love you!" and "Bye, bye Bashar! We will see you in The Hague!" as the sound of gunfire crackled in the distance.
A devastating picture was emerging of Daraa — which has been without electricity, water and telephones since Monday — as residents flee to neighboring countries. Daraa is where the uprising kicked off, sparked by the arrest of teenagers who scrawled anti-regime graffiti on a wall.
Residents inside the city begged for international intervention Friday.
"Nobody can move in (Daraa), they have snipers on the high roofs," a resident told The Associated Press using a satellite phone. "They are firing at everything."
At the Jordanian side of the Syrian border, several Daraa residents who had just crossed over said there is blood on the streets of the city.
"Gunfire is heard across the city all the time," one man said, asking that his name not be used for fear of retribution. "People are getting killed in the streets by snipers if they leave their homes."
29 An AP reporter at the border heard gunfire and saw smoke rising from different areas just across the frontier. Residents said the gunfire has been constant for three weeks.
Assad's regime has stepped up its deadly crackdown on protesters in recent days by unleashing the army along with snipers and tanks. On Friday, protesters came out in their thousands, defying the crackdown and using it as a rallying cry.
Syria has banned nearly all foreign media and restricted access to trouble spots since the uprising began, making it almost impossible to verify the dramatic events shaking one of the most authoritarian, anti-Western regimes in the Arab world.
A witness in Latakia said about 1,000 people turned out for an anti-government rally when plainclothes security agents with automatic rifles opened fire. He said he saw at least five people wounded. Like many witnesses contacted by The Associated Press, he asked that his name not be used for fear of reprisal.
The Muslim Brotherhood urged Syrians to demonstrate Friday against Assad in the first time the outlawed group has openly encouraged the protests in Syria. The Brotherhood was crushed by Assad's father, Hafez, after staging an uprising against his regime in 1982.
"You were born free, so don't let a tyrant enslave you," said the statement, issued by the Brotherhood's exiled leadership.
But he has acknowledged the need for reforms, offering overtures of change in recent weeks while brutally cracking down on demonstrations.
Last week, Syria's Cabinet abolished the state of emergency, in place for decades, and approved a new law allowing the right to stage peaceful protests with the permission of the Interior Ministry.
But the protesters, enraged by the mounting death toll, no longer appear satisfied with the changes and are increasingly seeking the regime's downfall.
"The people want the downfall of the regime," said an activist in the coastal city of Banias — echoing the cries heard during the Egyptian and Tunisian revolutions.
Witnesses and human rights groups said Syrian army units clashed with each other over following Assad's orders to crack down on protesters in Daraa, where the uprising started.
While the troops' infighting in Daraa does not indicate any decisive splits in the military, it is significant because Assad's army has always been the regime's fiercest defender.
It is the latest sign that cracks — however small — are developing in Assad's base of support that would have been unimaginable just weeks ago. Also, about 200 mostly low-level members of Syria's ruling Baath Party have resigned over Assad's brutal crackdown.
Meanwhile, diplomats say the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency is setting the stage for potential U.N. Security Council action on Syria as it prepares a report assessing that a Syrian target bombed by Israeli warplanes in 2007 30 was likely a secretly built nuclear reactor meant to produce plutonium.
Such a conclusion would back intelligence produced by Israel and the United States. Syria says the nearly finished building had no nuclear uses. It has repeatedly turned down requests by the International Atomic Energy Agency to revisit the site after allowing an initial 2008 inspection that found evidence of possible nuclear activities.
Three diplomats and a senior U.N. official said such an assessment — drawn up by IAEA chief Yukiya Amano — would be the basis of a Western-sponsored resolution at a meeting of the 35-nation IAEA board that condemns Syria's refusal to cooperate with the agency and kicks the issue to the U.N. Security Council. All spoke on condition of anonymity because the information they discussed was confidential.
Separately, the U.N. Human Rights Council approved an investigation of Syria's crackdown and demanded that the nation immediately release political prisoners and lift restrictions on journalists and the Internet. The action came on a 26-9 vote, with 7 abstentions. Opposition among many Arab and African nations forced the U.S.-drafted resolution to be watered down to omit Syria's unopposed candidacy for the council.
___
Associated Press writers Jamal Halaby at the Jordanian-Syrian border, Diaa Hadid in Cairo, Elizabeth A. Kennedy in Beirut, John Heilprin in Geneva, George Jahn in Vienna and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.
2 dead: Riots erupt in Uganda after brutal arrest
By GODFREY OLUKYA, Associated Press April 29, 2011
KAMPALA, Uganda – Army troops and police fired live bullets at rioting demonstrators Friday, and at least two people were killed and 120 wounded in the largest anti-government protest in sub-Saharan Africa this year.
Rioters burned tires in downtown streets as security forces fired tear gas and guns, and a Red Cross spokeswoman said 15 of the wounded and been hit by live bullets. Battles between protesters and police were also reported elsewhere around the country.
The protests are the first serious demonstrations in sub-Saharan Africa since a wave of anti-government protests swept leaders in Tunisia and Egypt out of power. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who has been in power for a quarter-century, has vowed repeatedly that his government will not be taken down by protests.
The breakout of violence came one day after a brutal takedown of the country's top opposition politician, Kizza Besigye. Police smashed through the window of Besigye's vehicle with the butt of a gun and doused him with tear gas at close range before bundling him into the back of a pickup truck and speeding off.
"They arrested him like a chicken thief. We cannot allow such things to continue. Museveni must go," said Brown Ndese, one of the protesters.
Red Cross spokeswoman Catherine Ntabadde said at least two people were 31 killed and 120 people wounded. Uganda police spokeswoman Judith Nabakooba said the police were working to contain the demonstrations and did not immediately have a casualty figure.
Some 360 people were arrested, the government said.
Besigye was freed on bail on Thursday but did not make any public appearances or statements on Friday. Radio reports quoted an aide as saying Besigye was in poor health and that he was to fly him out of the country for treatment.
Besigye withstood long volleys of tear gas sprayed directly on him Thursday, but it wasn't clear how sick or injured he was. Attempts to reach Besigye aides for comment failed.
Besigye has held five "walk to work" demonstrations to protest rising prices and what he calls a corrupt government. On Friday, demonstrators carried posters praising Besigye, and questioned why police needed to use violence to arrest him. Opposition members of parliament have demanded an explanation from the government over his treatment.
Ugandan Minister of Internal Affairs Kirunda Kivejinja said at a news conference Friday that police had no intention of arresting Besigye in such a harsh manner on Thursday.
"The way he was arrested was due to the way he reacted," Kivejinja said. "When police advised him not to use a particular road, he instead got out of his vehicle and called his supporters."
About comparisons to Arab uprisings, he said: "Uganda cannot be like Tunisia and Egypt. ... Here we simply have Besigye who does not want to cooperate. He is defiant against lawful orders."
Earlier this month Besigye was shot in the right hand by what he says was a rubber bullet fired by police. He now wears a thick white cast that reaches halfway up his right arm.
Uganda's Daily Monitor newspaper reported on its website Friday that military forces and police fired live ammunition and tear gas at demonstrators in the eastern town of Mbale, some 200 miles (300 kilometers) outside Kampala. Demonstrators fought back with rocks.
The U.S. Embassy in Uganda condemned the escalation of violence and it called on all protesters to obey the law and cease all destruction of property.
"The U.S. Mission in Uganda also urges the Government of Uganda to respect the right of all citizens to peacefully express their views as enshrined by Uganda's constitution. Above all, Ugandan authorities must avoid using excessive force against civilians in this situation. Constructive dialogue is needed now," the U.S. statement said.
Besigye came second in Uganda's February presidential election to Museveni, threatening to end the opposition leader's political career after three straight losses to the longtime leader. Official returns showed Museveni winning 68 percent of the February vote, though Besigye says those returns were falsified and that both he and Museveni got just under 50 percent.
32 Besigye, though, has had a political resurrection in recent months as the country has seen huge price spikes in food and fuel.
In an interview with The Associated Press at his home last week, Besigye said many Ugandans face a "crisis of survival," that the health care system has broken down and that young people cannot find jobs.
Besigye was the president's personal physician before being dismissed for saying in 1999 the government was becoming a one-man dictatorship.
Uganda is a young country, with half its nearly 35 million citizens under 15. An estimated 1.2 million have HIV/AIDS. The average yearly income is just $1,200, though many here have hopes — and fears — over newly discovered oil that will soon be pumped. An oil curse has befallen other African countries, providing more incentive for corrupt leaders to remain in power in order to steal from public coffers.
Andries Tatane: Murdered by the Ruling Classes
Libcom.org Apr 24 2011
South African activist Andries Tatane was buried in the small rural town of Ficksburg yesterday. He was murdered by the police on a demonstration of four and a half thousand people last week. Shawn Hatting from the Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Front has developed the first libertarian communist response to the last of a growing number of police murders of grassroots activists in South Africa. by Shawn Hattingh (ZACF)
On the 13th April, people in South Africa were stunned. On the evening news the sight of six police force members brutally beating a man, Andries Tatane, to death was aired. The images of the police smashing his body with batons and repeatedly firing rubber bullets into his chest struck a cord; people were simply shocked and appalled. Literally hundreds of articles followed in the press, politicians of all stripes also hopped on the bandwagon and said they lamented his death; and most called for the police to receive appropriate training to deal with ‘crowd control’ – after all, elections are a month away.
Andries Tatane’s death was the culmination of a protest march in the Free State town of Ficksburg. The march involved over 4,000 people, who undertook the action to demand the very basics of life – decent housing, access to water and electricity, and jobs. They had repeatedly written to the mayor and local government of Ficksburg pleading for these necessities. Like a group of modern day Marie Antoinettes, the local state officials brushed off these pleas; more important matters no doubt needed to be attended to – like shopping for luxury cars; banking the latest fat pay check; handing tenders out to Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) connections and talking shit in the municipal chambers. Therefore, when the township residents had the audacity to march, and call for a response, the police were promptly unleashed with water cannons and rubber bullets. If the impoverished black residents of Ficksburg could not get the hint, in the form of silence; then the state and local politicians were going to ensure that they got the message beaten into them.
The reason why specifically Andries Tatane was murdered was because he had the cheek, in the eyes of the officials involved, to question police force 33 members about why they were firing a water cannon at an elderly person – who clearly was not a threat to the burly brutes that make up South Africa’s arm of the law. For that act of decency, he paid dearly: with his life. The message was clear – how dare anyone question the authority of the state and its right to use force wherever and whenever it deems necessary.
A war on protestors
The sad reality though is that Andries Tatane’s murder at the hands of the state did not represent something new or even an isolated incident. For years, the South African state has been treating people that have embarked on protests with brute force and utter contempt. Activists from community based movements – such as the Anti-Privatisation Forum (APF), Abahlali baseMjondolo (ABM), Anti-Eviction Campaign (AEC) and Landless People’s Movement (LPM) have routinely been harassed by the state, arrested and beaten. For instance, on the day of the elections in 2004, LPM members were tortured by the police in Soweto. Some activists have also been subjected to attacks by vigilante groupings; to which the state and the police have often turned a blind eye. In reality, the state views community based movements as enemies and when they protest the state often dishes out violence. The fact that the vast majority of community based protests are peaceful, usually involving little more than people blockading a road and burning old tires, does not deter them.
Andries Tatane’s awful death, for standing up for what he believed, was also by no means the first at the hands of the South African state. Numerous people involved in community protests, much like the one in Ficksburg, have been murdered by police officials. As recently as February, protests erupted in the town of Ermelo; situated in one of South Africa’s poorest provinces – Mpumulanga. The people involved were demanding the exact same basic necessities as the Ficksburg protestors. The state did not respond by listening or engaging the people, but rather sent 160 riot police, euphemistically named the Tactical Response Team (TRT), to end the protests. The country’s Police Commissioner, General Cele; personally warned the Ermelo protestors and organizers that the TRT was going to restore ‘order’. In the process, two people were shot dead by the police and 120 more were arrested. Raids were conducted throughout impoverished areas – due to the legacy of apartheid, residents in these areas are mainly or exclusively black – and, as part of this, an 80 year old woman was detained. An illegal curfew was also implemented by the police and anyone on the street was automatically shot at with rubber bullets. Indiscriminate violence by the police reportedly became the order of the day. In one incident, captured on a cellphone camera, a teenager was called out of a shop by a group of policemen. When he approached their car, he was repeatedly shot at with rubber bullets and forced to roll down the street as ‘punishment’. Other people were also reportedly whipped by the police with sjamboks – the imagery of colonial and apartheid style punishment no doubt being deliberate. People were literally driven off the streets by state organised terror. The bitter reality, however, is that Emerlo and Ficksburg were simply microcosms of how the state routinely dishes out violence towards those that it views as a threat: in 2010 alone 1,769 people died as a result of police action or in police custody. Sadly, Andries Tatane will become part of these statistics.
Sinister interrogation processes have also accompanied the outright violence that the state has directed towards protestors. In the case of the Ermelo protests, a person who the state accused of being one of the organisers, Bongani Phakathi, was interrogated for 14 hours by the crack 34 Hawks unit. Amongst other things, he was questioned about whether there were funders behind the protest. The questions asked to Phakathi reveal the level of paranoia that the state has shown around the ever-growing community protests. In fact, the state has repeatedly claimed that there has been a sinister ‘third force’ behind the wave of protests. To supposedly uncover this ‘third force’ and to intimidate people, the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) has been unleashed on communities over the last few years. In the process, many people have been arrested, interrogated and some have even been charged with sedition. For example in 2006, 13 people were charged with sedition in the small town of Harrismith because they were involved in a community protest. Almost all, however, have been released for a lack of real evidence and in the end the state was forced to drop the sedition charges. Nonetheless, the South African state’s goal of intimidating people is clear. What has also become patently clear is that there is no ‘third force’; the claims about a ‘third force’ are simply being used to ‘legitimise’ the use of intelligence agencies against people. The only ‘third force’ driving the protests are the conditions that people are being forced to live under – it is sadly not an exaggeration to say the dogs that guard the property of the rich, and that are used by the police, live under better conditions than the poor in South Africa.
It is also clear that police force members, who are the foot soldiers of the state, are taking their cue from leading state officials and politicians – whether tied to the Democratic Alliance (DA) or the African National Congress (ANC). The likes of General Cele has encouraged the police to “shoot to kill” if they feel threatened. The ANC, DA and Congress of the People (COPE) have more than once branded people embarking on protests as criminals that need to be dealt with. Even sections within the country’s trade union leadership, and some ‘leftists’ associated with them, have at times called community protestors and activists thugs. Despite uttering regrets about Andries Tatane’s murder, politicians have also continued to say that protestors need to be subjected to effective ‘crowd control’. Likewise, police officials stated that anyone who “taunts” the police, despite the death of Tatane, must still be dealt with. The fact that those in the state believe that they have a right to ‘control’ people and ‘deal with them’ speaks volumes about their oppressive worldview. In response to a wave of protests in 2009, the Cabinet also released a wrath of statements including one saying:
“The action that we will be taking is that those who organise these marches, those who openly perpetuate and promote violent action, the state will start acting against those individuals”
The Cabinet’s and the state’s message was clear: it was saying to the poor: protest and the state will come for you, isolate you and crush you. Such thuggish statements have become common on the lips of South African state officials. It is in this context that Andries Tatane was killed.
The way the current state views and deals with community protestors also has remarkable similarity, and continuity, with the practices of the apartheid state – despite the state being in the hands of a supposed black nationalist liberation movement – the ANC. Besides apartheid-style brutality, the post-apartheid state still makes use of apartheid laws to deal with protests. Under these laws, anyone wanting to protest has to apply 7 days in advance. Linked to this, the state can refuse permission on a number of grounds. If permission is not granted then any protest involving more than 15 people is deemed illegal. The state is then ‘free’, according to its own laws, to arrest or take action – a euphemism for 35 firing rubber bullets – against the people involved. Freedom of expression is hollow under such circumstances. With such practices it is also no wonder that the South African state is attempting to pass laws that would allow it to classify vast amounts of information that would stop any public scrutiny of its practices, abuses and short-comings. The state is not an entity of the people; it is an entity of oppression.
The wider war
Of course, the suppression of protestors, such as Andries Tatane, is merely the outward sign of a larger and more intense war that the elite in South Africa have been waging on the majority of people. In fact, the elite, through capitalism, have been exploiting people through wage slavery; stripping people of their jobs to increase profits; turning houses into a commodity; stripping peoples’ access to water to make profits; denying people without money access to food; and cutting people’s electricity when they are too poor to pay. For years people have, therefore, been robbed by the rich and state officials. As such, the elite – made up of white capitalists but now joined by a small black elite centred mainly around the state and ANC – have forced the vast majority of people in South Africa to live in misery. Indeed, the elite in South Africa has created and entrenched a society that is defined by continued exploitation of the poor and workers; that is defined by continued racial oppression of the majority of workers and the poor, and that is defined by extreme sexism. The rich and state officials (the ruling classes) have grown rich and fat out of this situation – living off the blood, sweat and cheap labour of the, predominantly black, workers and the poor. It is for this reason that the rich and politicians have come to enjoy one of the highest living standards in the world. They enjoy lavish houses, serving staff, massive pay checks – lifestyles that even the royalty of old could only dream of. Thus, it should not be surprising that South Africa is statically the most unequal society in the world – it was and is designed by the ruling classes to be so: their wealth and power is based on it!
The state is war
It is this extreme inequality and deprivation – and accompanying experience of exploitation, oppression and humiliation – that drives people, including Andries Tatane, to protest. While we should rightfully be appalled by the death of Andries Tatane, and other people embarking on protests, at the hands of the state; we should, however, not be surprised. The state is the ultimate protector of the unjust and unequal society we have. If the status quo is even remotely threatened or questioned, the purpose of the state is to neutralise the threat and/or silence or co-opt it.
In fact, anarchists have long pointed out that states, of whatever variety, are inherently oppressive and violent. States are centralising and hierarchical institutions, which exist to enforce a situation whereby a minority rules over a majority. The hierarchical structure of all states also inevitably concentrates power in the hands of the directing elite. States and the existence of an elite are, therefore, synonymous. States are the concentrated power of the ruling class – made up of both capitalists and high ranking state officials – and are a central pillar of ruling class power. Thus, the state serves dominant minorities and by definition it has to be centralised, since a minority can only rule when power is concentrated in their hands and when decisions made by them flow down a chain of command. It is specifically this that allows minorities who seek to rule people (high ranking state officials) and exploit people 36 (capitalists) to achieve their aims.
The fact that the state is an oppressive and hierarchical system, which operates to protect and entrench the privileged positions of the ruling class, has also resulted in the continuation of the racial oppression of the vast majority of the working class (workers and the poor) in South Africa. The anarchist Mikhail Bakunin foresaw the possibility of such a situation arising in cases where national liberation was based upon the strategy of capturing state power – as has happened in South Africa. Indeed, Bakunin said that the “statist path” was “entirely ruinous for the great masses of the people” because it did not abolish class power but simply changed the make-up of the ruling class. Due to the centralised nature of states, only a few can rule – a majority of people can never be involved in decision making under a state system as it is hierarchical. As such, he stated that if the national liberation struggle was carried out with “ambitious intent to set up a powerful state”, or if “it is carried out without the people and must therefore depend for success on a privileged class” it would become a “retrogressive, disastrous, counter-revolutionary movement”. Over and above this he stressed that national liberation and the end to all forms of oppression, including that of race, had to be achieved “as much in the economic as in the political interests of the masses”. Through their position in the ruling class (based on their control of the state), the black elite have escaped the effects of racial oppression and have become oppressors themselves (their power over the state at times has even been used by them, for their own interests, against other sections of the ruling class like racist white capitalists), but racial oppression for the majority of the working class continues. The privileged position of the black ruling elite – like their white capitalist counterparts – is based on the continued oppression of black workers, who have been and are deliberately relegated by the state and capitalism in South Africa to the role of extremely cheap labour. Thus, although the working class in South Africa includes white people, the main source of wealth for the white and black ruling elite depends on the exploitation of the black working class as a source of super cheap labour. It is this combination of racial oppression and exploitation on which the wealth of the elite rests. Thus, when the state and capitalism remained intact in South Africa, after apartheid, the continued exploitation of the working class and racial oppression of the majority of impoverished people were assured. It is this situation that has created the conditions that have led to the protests in townships in places like Ficksburg and Ermelo, and it is this situation that has assured that they will continue.
Indeed, the oppression and exploitation of the majority of people will, and does, happen even under a parliamentary system. This is because even in a parliamentary system a handful of people get to make decisions, instruct others what to do, and enforce these instructions through the state. When people don’t obey these top-down instructions or disagree with them, the power of the state is then used to coerce and/ or punish them. Thus, the state as a centralised mechanism of ruling class power also claims a monopoly of legitimate force within ‘its’ territory; and will use that force when it deems necessary – including against protestors raising issues like a lack of jobs, a lack of housing and a lack of basic services. It is this violent, oppressive and domineering nature of all states that have led anarchists, rightfully, to see them as the antithesis of freedom. The brutal reality is that protestors in South Africa, like Andries Tatane – demanding a decent life and greater democracy – have ended up victims of the mechanism of centralised minority rule: the state. In terms of trying to silence protestors – whether by baton, water cannon, 37 rubber bullets or live ammunition – the South African state has also been carrying out one of the main tasks it was designed for: organised violence.
Conclusion
The fact is that capitalism and the state systems are one of the key reasons why South Africa is the most unequal society in the world. The state entrenches and enforces this status quo: a status quo based on the exploitation and oppression of the vast majority of people; made up of the workers and the poor. Andries Tatane too was a victim of this system. Indeed, for as long as capitalism and the state exist; inequality will exist and people will be forced to live in misery. When they raise issues and protest; the state will try to silence them either by co-option or violence or a combination of both. The fact also is that for as long as the state and capitalism continue to exist there will be thousands upon thousands of Andries Tatanes, Ernesto Nhamuaves, Steve Bikos and Hector Pietersons. The state and capitalism, to paraphrase Bakunin, are in combination a vast slaughterhouse and cemetery – sometimes killing workers and the poor suddenly and openly; sometimes killing them silently and slowly.
For as long as the state and capitalism are in place people will also be driven to protest against the oppression, exploitation and inequalities that are generated by, and that are part and parcel of, these systems. If people want a just, fair, equal, genuinely democratic, non-racist, non-sexist and decent society then capitalism and the state systems need to be ended. Certainly, people should demand and organise to win immediate gains like jobs, better wages, housing and services from the state and capitalists; but ultimately for as long as these systems of class rule exist; domination, inequality, and oppression will exist. Thus if genuine material equality is to be achieved, people are going to need to organise to take direct control of the economy, and run it democratically, for the benefit of all and to meet the needs of all. Only under such circumstances will the poverty, which has been driving people like Andries Tatane to protest, be ended. Only under such a system will racial oppression too be ended. Likewise, if people want a genuine democracy and a say over their lives, and not to have their concerns dismissed, then people are going to have to get rid of the state and replace it with a form of people’s power based on structures of self-governance like federated community/worker assemblies and federated councils at regional, national and international levels. There have been historical experiments, although on a limited scale, with such structures of direct democracy including in South Africa during the anti-apartheid struggle. We need to learn from these. In fact, if we want to ensure that there will be no Andries Tantanes in the future we need to revive the best practices of Peoples’ Power and build towards achieving a free and egalitarian world: a world based on the principles that have become known, through a 150 year struggle for justice, as anarchist-communism.
This article was originally published on the Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Front site.
The clip screened on the television news in South Africa is online [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omWi5PayXiM]here.[/url]
There is a collection of other articles on the police murder of Andries Tatanes here.
38 http://www.abahlali.org/taxonomy/term/3033 report.
Radio Interview with Sac Prisoner Support about Eric McDavid
April 26, 2011 by dj Questionmark frolympia.org
Interview recorded at Free Radio Olympia by dj Questionmark on April 25, 2011
Download at: http://www.indybay.org/uploads/2011/04/26/ericmcdavid042511.mp3 (24 mb) 27 minutes
Interview with Jenny of Sacramento Prisoner Support about the case of Eric McDavid. Eric was entrapped by government agent "Anna" in early 2006 in a fake plot to blow up a dam. Anna used FBI money to recruit, house and transport her fake eco-cell. After the arrests, Eric's co-defendants took cooperating plea-deals and testified against him. Eric was then tried and convicted of conspiracy and sentenced to 20 years.
Sac Prisoner Support has supported Eric throughout this experience and is developing long term strategies. An international day of action is called this June 11th, 2011 in solidarity with Eric and eco-defender Marie Mason. For more information about the day of action visit: http://june11.org
For more information on Eric McDavid and ways to support him visit: http://supporteric.org
Radio Interview with Tre Arrow
April 26, 2011 by dj Questionmark frolympia.org
Download at: http://www.indybay.org/uploads/2011/04/26/trearrow042511.mp3 (50 mb) 56 minutes
Interview with environmental activist and former international political prisoner Tre Arrow. Tre talks about his current activities in Portland and his past efforts to preserve forest eco-systems. He recounts his participation in the Eagle Creek and Tillimook forest campaigns. Tre became well known for standing on the ledge of the US forest Service building in downtown Portland for 11 days. He then ran for congress for the Green Party and got over 15,000 votes.
Tre became a suspect for the Ross Island Sand and Gravel arson after his co-defendant bragged to his girlfriend, who told her dad, who told the FBI. While a fugitive on the FBI's most wanted list, Tre crossed Canada and was arrested in Vancouver. Tre fought his extradition and lack of raw vegan food in jail with a series of hunger strikes. His weight dropped to around 80 pounds at one point.
Tre served his prison time and is currently on parole. He remains committed to social and ecological justice.
39 Lifer Lessons: Marshall “Eddie” Conway talks about prison life
Photo from Marshall Law: The Life & Times of a Baltimore Black Panther Eddie Conway
By Van Smith
Published: April 27, 2011 City Paper
Now 65 years old, Marshall “Eddie” Conway started serving a life sentence for murdering Baltimore police officer Donald Sager when he was 24. Back then, Conway was a postal worker and U.S. Army veteran. He was also a civil rights activist who, as a member of the NAACP and the Congress of Racial Equality, had helped organize efforts to better working conditions for African-Americans at a number of major employers in the Baltimore area. His most renowned role, though, was as Minister of Defense in the Maryland chapter of the Black Panther Party—a position that put him on the front lines of a successful government effort to undermine the party.
Now, Conway is a published author with two books to his credit. In 2009, iAWME Publications issued Conway’s The Greatest Threat: The Black Panther Party and COINTELPRO, in part as a fundraiser for Conway’s legal defense. And earlier this month, AK Press published Conway’s memoir, Marshall Law: The Life and Times of a Baltimore Black Panther, a release party for which takes place April 29 at 2640 Space featuring readings from the book by Bashi Rose and WombWorks Productions, Pam Africa talking about the Mumia Abu-Jamal case, and a performance by Lafayette Gilchrist. (Visit redemmas.org/2640 for more details.)
40 The new memoir provides an ideal opportunity to consider the man and his life from different perspectives. Edward Ericson Jr. takes a serious look at Conway’s claims to be a political prisoner in his essay about The Greatest Threat. Michael Corbin, who taught at the Metropolitan Transition Center, the former Maryland Penitentiary in Baltimore, places Marshall Law in the American tradition of prison literature. And since decades in prison have tempered Conway’s revolutionary zeal, in a recent phone interview from the Jessup Correctional Institution, he spoke of what hurts and helps the corrective function of prisons, the challenges of fatherhood on the inside, the folly of drug dealing, his own unrealized aspirations in life, and what he would do as a free man.
City Paper: Maryland has a life-means-life policy, essentially denying the possibility for parole for those serving life sentences. It was put in place in 1995 by then governor Parris Glendening, who recently admitted his regrets.
Marshall “Eddie” Conway: Yes, I’m aware of his regrets, 16 years later and after about 50 of my associates are dead. During the course of waiting for this policy to be changed, they passed away.
CP: In your mind, what is wrong with this policy?
MEC: The real problem is that young people coming into the prison system see people that have been participating in the programs, doing all they can to turn their lives around and become usual citizens in the community, and they see how they’ve spent 10, 20, 30, 40 years doing that, with no kind of possibility of release. Well, right away, young guys end up saying, “Well, what’s the point?” It increases the potential for violence, because there is frustration, and it increases hopelessness, which means that people tend to act out. It doesn’t give an incentive for people to rehabilitate themselves, and instead creates negative activity and energy. If you take away hope in a system like this, then you’re going to receive a lot of people returning back to the community very frustrated and hopeless— which is not good, considering the unemployment situation. Also, when a person reaches a certain age, just the fact that a person is, like, 45, 50, or over, means that he becomes a safer risk for release in the community. And most of the time, when you get people that have done an extensive amount of time in prison, they got an associate degree or a bachelor’s degree, so they are more capable of taking care of themselves.
CP: Since the policy has been in place, have you seen an increase in violence, hopelessness, and nihilistic approaches to serving time?
MEC: There was a real spike in violence immediately after that policy was announced. In this institution, for maybe a 10-year period after 1995, pretty much every week there was something fatal or near-fatal occurring. I’m not saying that’s a direct result of Glendening’s policy, but it got so bad that the guards actually refused to come to work. And that violence spread from this institution to others.
CP: If the policy is overturned, would prisons become more suited for rehabilitation?
MEC: Well, of course it would. There are a lot of older prisoners, like myself, working to decrease the level of violence and conflict, and that’s really having a good impact. But in terms of people turning their lives around and having hope and having a desire to motivate change—if you can’t show them something at the end, there’s no incentive for that, and I’m kind of like swimming against the tide. But
41 if they see a way to get out of this predicament—if they work, if they develop, if they grow and change their paradigm—that’s going to probably change the climate within the prison population.
CP: Do you suspect you would have been paroled if this policy hadn’t been in place?
MEC: I don’t know if I would have been paroled, but I have to assume that I would have. I was a model prisoner, quote unquote, meaning that I was—and I am—working to improve the conditions among the prisoners.
CP: Let’s pretend you hadn’t been convicted. What would have been your career?
MEC: I want to believe that, if the community hadn’t been drugged and the jobs hadn’t been shipped overseas, we could have turned this around, and I would have probably ended up teaching somewhere. I had two interests. One was history and education, and the other was the medical profession. I had an aspiration to go into school at Johns Hopkins University, trying to engage in further training for the medical profession. I don’t know that that would have happened, but the teaching probably would have. Either way, I would have been constantly engaging in the community, trying to better the conditions.
CP: What do your sons do?
MEC: I have two sons. One of my sons is an instructor at Bowling Green University in Ohio, teaching computer science. The other is a manager of a water-purification plant in Maryland.
CP: How did you manage as a father in prison?
MEC: Right at the beginning, I have to admit that I succeeded in the case of one and I failed in the case of the other. In the case of my second son, I was estranged from him all the way until he was 18. It was my fault that that was the case, and I certainly never was a father to him. We tried to recover and establish some sort of relationship, and it just didn’t seem to work out. My oldest son, who I knew from the time he was born, I kept in touch with his mother, but I kind of lost track of him through my early years in the prison system simply because, of my initial seven years, I spent six of them in solitary confinement. Somewhere along the line, his mother came to me and just pretty much said, “Look, you need to talk to your son.” So at that time I had organized a 10-week counseling program for young people, and I actually had my son brought to the program. I would sit down and talk to him, one on one, and we would counsel in larger groups. We developed and we started bonding. Like all young black men at the time, he was like, “I’m going to the NBA, going to be a baller.” He was really good, but only so many people get selected to go into the NBA, and he needed to be considering a profession. So he decided to go to college and do the computer-science thing. I’ve supported him as much as I could, and I tried to get him to get his doctorate, but he had had enough of that. I think it was a good experience for both of us.
CP: How do you see it going with other inmates, and their issues with fatherhood?
MEC: It’s one of the things that we deal with a lot. I’ve been working with young guys for the whole entire 40 years, but at some point I had to stop for a while. They were just so angry, and the morals and values had changed to such a degree that I couldn’t be a neutral observer when somebody is
42 talking about beating up their grandmother or disrespecting their mother. But after I started back working with them, I noticed this great hostility to fathers, this great anger at being abandoned.
But the other side of that is that they really want to be very connected and attached to their children, even though they’re locked up. They’re trying to break that cycle, even though the cycle continues due to the simple fact that they are here. They’re trying to be the father that they didn’t have. So that’s good, and it’s more young people like that than not, and a lot of them actually do end up going back out, and they realize that they almost blew that opportunity to be that father. So they tend to get jobs and do what they need to do to stay there because of that.
But, I’m in here now with three generations of people. I’m looking across the generations of absent fathers. And I don’t know how that cycle gets broken if there’s no jobs. One of the great negatives is that maybe 80 percent of people in the prisons around the country are there for drug-related activity, not necessarily violent. Just selling drugs, buying drugs, using drugs, or fighting over drugs, based on the fact that there’s no jobs out there.
CP: It strikes me that these low-level drug dealing jobs are just bad jobs. Low pay, long hours, harsh management.
MEC: You think? And there’s not very good health care!
CP: People tend to think drug dealers get into it because it’s an easy buck.
MEC: It’s not an easy buck. It’s day-to-day survival—and it’s detrimental to your survival. If you manage to make any money, the state comes and scoops up any you might have around, and what you may have stashed away is used for the lawyers. So you end up with nothing.
CP: I wonder, are there any drug dealers out there for whom it doesn’t end badly? The odds are probably better that you’d make it to the NBA.
MEC: This is the bottom line: The nature of drug trafficking itself means that you are going to be highly publicized, that people are going to know who you are, that there’s always going to be a chain of evidence back to you, and that there’s always going to be someone who’s going to want to avoid being incarcerated by saying, “Go look at him or her.” It’s definitely a loser’s proposition.
CP: What do you know about gangs in Maryland prisons?
MEC: The real problem is that anybody in prison that associates with street organizations is pretty much tagged or targeted, be it the Black Guerilla Family, Crips, Bloods, Dead Man Incorporated, or any of them. It has made it impossible to interact in any kind of a positive way with members of those organizations without being tagged. I was educating people, and on the days that I made myself available, I would be in the yard and anybody could approach me to talk about things like how to make parole, how to deal with domestic situations. The result was the prison authorities tagged me. When I talked to the lieutenant about it, I said, “These are the same guys that are going back into our communities, and if they go back in with negative attitudes they are going to be destructive, they’re going to hurt people—your family, my family, everybody else’s families—and I’m not going to ignore that, so I’m going to work with them.”
43 But you can’t get too close without being labeled, without it being reported that you’re associating with them. So I don’t even go into the yard anymore, but I still work with organizations that provide information, education, insight, and skills to manage conflicts. You get penalized if you try to work with these groups any closer than that. It’s almost as if the prison authorities want them to proliferate, so they can have “X” amount of members or associates documented and get funds for, quote unquote, anti-gang activities. I don’t know what the end is, other than everybody at some point will end up in Big Brother’s files.
CP: What would you do if you were released tomorrow?
MEC: With the rest of my life, I would try to get a house with a nice garden and grow some food and smell the roses. I would still be involved in developing good, positive communities, but I’m a big supporter now of organic food, growing your own food, developing your way to sustain yourself into the future. So I would want to do that and encourage other people to do it.
Jaggi Singh pleads guilty to urging people to tear down G20 security fence, facing six months prison
[français ci-dessous]
Jaggi Singh pleads guilty to urging people to tear down G20 security fence
Crown asks for six months in prison
"Sometimes you put up walls not to keep people out, but to see who cares enough to break them down." - Anonymous --- Media Contacts (English/French): Craig Fortier, No One Is Illegal-Toronto: 416-735-0409 Blandine Juchs, Anti-Capitalist Convergence (CLAC), Montreal: 438 323 1456
For updates from the court on April 28, please phone/text: Jessica Denyer, Community Solidarity Network: 416-708-3195 ---
TORONTO, APRIL 28, 2011 -- Today, at the Ontario Court of Justice at Old City Hall, Montreal- based G20 protester Jaggi Singh has pled guilty to urging people to tear down the G20 security fence.
Jaggi, a member of the Anti-Capitalist Convergence (CLAC) and No One Is Illegal-Montreal, has technically pled guilty to “counselling to commit mischief over $5000”. His specific crime occurred during a short speech and subsequent replies to media questions during a No One Is Illegal press conference at the $5.5 million G20 security fence on June 24, 2010, just a few days before the G20 conference officially began in downtown Toronto.
Jaggi’s remarks, which will be entered into evidence, can be viewed online in two segments: i) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ymRoN54CCc; ii) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9NnAorPigc (begin at :030).
44 For Jaggi’s words, the Crown is demanding six months in prison, while his lawyer, Peter Rosenthal, is arguing for a much lesser penalty.
In return for Jaggi’s plea, the Crown is withdrawing all criminal conspiracy charges, charges still being faced by 17 other former co-accused who will begin their preliminary inquiry in September.
As part of the plea agreement between the Crown and Jaggi: i) the Crown will not call Jaggi as a witness in any G20-related case; ii) Jaggi’s plea cannot be used by the Crown in any other G20 prosecutions; iii) Jaggi will offer no cooperation to the Crown or the police; iv) Jaggi will offer no apologies for his actions and words; v) the entirety of my agreement will be public and not subject to any publication ban (plea agreement and related exhibits are linked below).
Sentencing arguments are being heard in front of Justice Bigelow at the Ontario Court of Justice today, and it is expected that he will deliver his ruling on sentence on June 21. ------
The following groups have today issued public support letters in support of Jaggi:
* No One Is Illegal (Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto & Vancouver): On the Justice of Tearing Down Fences and Dismantling Borders
* Anti-Capitalist Convergence (CLAC): In Montreal, In Toronto and Everywhere, the Walls Must Fall!
* Solidarité sans frontières: Déclaration de soutien avec Jaggi
* QPIRG Concordia: A Public Statement in Support of Jaggi Singh
* Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP): Support Jaggi Singh and Resistance to Capitalist Austerity
* Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW): (to be posted shortly)
If your group or organization would also like to write a support letter, or endorse an existing one, please contact the CLAC in Montreal via [email protected] ------
- PLEA AGREEMENT: http://www.clac-montreal.net/sites/default/files/PLEA AGREEMENT - English.pdf
- Exhibit A: Agreed Statement of Facts
- Exhibit B: Jaggi Singh twitter feed (June 3-July 6, 2010) (Why the twitter feed?: The twitter feed was public and intended for a general audience. The Crown is using Jaggi’s twitter feed (June 3 to July 6, 2010) to highlight that he posted information like: 1) CLAC’s Anti-Capitalist Reader produced before the G20 called “Warning Shot!”; 2) No One Is Illegal statements produced before and after the G20; 3) a video posted by Jaggi (but not produced or made
45 by him) called “Mon voyage à Toronto”, which includes the Dead Prez song “Fuck the Law.” You can access the relevant excerpts of the twitter feed directly at http://www.twitter.com/JaggiMontreal)
- Exhibit C: Jaggi Singh Speech and Q&A at the G20 Security Fence (June 24, 2010) The speech can be viewed at the following links: i) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ymRoN54CCc; ii) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9NnAorPigc (begin at :030). A transcript of the speech is available HERE. ------
276 letters were submitted to the judge today in support of Jaggi. Many letter-writers indicated their full support for Jaggi’s words at the fence, and expressed agreement that the G20 security fence should have been removed. All letter-writers have urged the judge to impose a minimal sentence.
Among the groups who submitted support letters for Jaggi (as organizations, or as individuals on behalf of the organization): Anarchist Bookfair Collective (Montreal), Artivistic, l’Association pour la Défense des Droits et l’Inclusion des personnes qui Consomment des drogues du Québec (ADDICQ), Beehive Design Collective, Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), Center for Community Organizations (CoCo), le Centre des femmes d’ici et d’ailleurs, CKUT Board of Directors, Committee to Aid Refugees (CAR), Le comité exécutif de L’R, Coopérative Nos Rêves (Parc Extension), Community Solidarity Network (Toronto), Dignidad Migrante, le Bibliothèque Anarchiste DIRA, Le Frigo Vert Collective, le Front d’action populaire en réaménagement urbain (FRAPRU), le Front commun des personnes assistées sociales du Québec, le Groupe de Recherche en Intérêt Public de l’Université du Québec à Montréal (GRIP-UQÀM), Head & Hands (NDG), Immigrant Workers Center, Institut de recherche et d’informations socio-économiques (IRIS), JOC-Montréal, Montréal- Nord Républik, National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (Oakland, CA), Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (Toronto), OPIRG Toronto, People’s Potato Collective, Prisoner Correspondence Project, le Projet accompagnement solidarité Colombie (PASC), Purple Thistle Collective (Vancouver), QPIRG Concordia, QPIRG McGill, Radical Reference Montréal, Re-Con, le Regroupement intersectoriel des organismes communautaires de Montréal, Solidarité sans frontières, South Asian Women’s Community Centre, Stella, le Table des regroupemens provinciaux d’organismes communautaires et bénévoles, Toronto People’s Assembly on Climate Justice
As well, many more individuals (and other groups) from Montreal, Toronto, as well as all over Quebec, Canada, the USA and overseas have submitted letters of support.
----- After today’s plea, Jaggi Singh has issued the following short statement:
“By pleading guilty to counseling to commit mischief, I can openly state that the fence deserved to come down, and that the G20 deserved to be confronted. I'll pay a price for having said so openly, but I am ready to assume that responsibility,
I assume that responsibility knowing that I have amazing and deep support from an engaged community of social justice organizers and activists in Quebec, Canada and beyond. I would like to express my profound thanks to everyone who’s offered me support in the past few months, in so many touching and diverse ways.
46 Importantly, I would like to particularly express a public note of solidarity and support for all remaining G20 defendants who continue to fight their criminal charges. They are all deserving of everyone’s interest and active support, and I encourage all concerned about police and state repression to provide it, tangibly.
By pleading guilty now, I am ending this legal matter, relatively speaking, on my own terms and timetable, and I’m looking forward to returning to the streets and protests of Montreal shortly.” -----
SUPPORT G20 DEFENDANTS:
- “Support G20 Defendants” Flyer: http://guelphprisonersolidarity.wordpress.com/2011/04/15/new- g20-support...
- Free Byron Sonne: http://freebyron.org/index.php/Main_Page
- Community Solidarity Network Updates: http://g20.torontomobilize.org/
CONTRIBUTE:
- The G20 Legal Fund (Québec): http://www.clac2010.net/en/node/193 "The G20 Legal Fund considers that all arrests occurred in the context of a legitimate struggle against the capitalist policies of the G20, and that all charges should be dropped immediately."
- Guelph ABC G20 Support Fund: http://guelphprisonersolidarity.wordpress.com/g20-support/ "An accessible alternate fund for G20 arrestees, mostly those facing serious charges. The fund is for immediate short-term needs of the defendants."
- The G20 Legal Defence Fund (Toronto): http://g20legaldefencefund.wordpress.com/ "A fund that exists to hold and give out funds raised to support legal costs, fees, and other associated costs of legal defense for people facing charges stemming from the June 2010 Toronto G20 Summit."
INFO: www.clac-montreal.net/en/jaggi
______
Subject: Jaggi Singh plaide coupable d’avoir incité les gens à démolir la clôture de sécurité du G20
-----
| Jaggi Singh plaide coupable d’avoir incité les gens à démolir la clôture de sécurité du G20
Pour diffusion immédiate] [English: http://www.clac-montreal.net/en/jaggi]
Jaggi Singh plaide coupable d’avoir incité les gens à démolir la clôture de sécurité du G20
47 La Couronne demande six mois de prison
TORONTO, LE 28 AVRIL 2011 -- Aujourd’hui, à la Cour de justice de l’Ontario, au Old City Hall, le militant montréalais Jaggi Singh a plaidé coupable d’avoir incité les gens à démolir la clôture de sécurité du G20.
Jaggi, un membre de la Convergence des luttes anticapitalistes (CLAC) et de Personne n’est illégal- Montréal, à plaidé coupable techniquement pour avoir « conseillé de commettre un méfait de plus de 5000$ ». Ce crime a eu lieu pendant un court discours et lors des réponses aux médias qui l’ont suivi, pendant une conférence de presse de Personne n’est illégal. Celle-ci s'est déroulée près de la clôture de sécurité de 5,5 millions de dollars du G20, le 24 juin 2010, quelques jours avant que la conférence du G20 ne débute officiellement, au centre-ville de Toronto.
Les propos de Jaggi, qui font partie de la preuve, peuvent être visionnés en ligne en deux parties : i) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ymRoN54CCc; ii) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9NnAorPigc (à 0:30).
La Couronne demande six mois de prison pour les propos tenus par Jaggi; son avocat Peter Rosenthal, argumentera pour une peine plus clémente.
En échange du plaidoyer de Jaggi, la Couronne retire toutes les accusations criminelles de complot contre Jaggi, des accusations auxquelles font toujours face ses 17 ancien(ne)s co-accusé(e)s dont les enquêtes préliminaires débuteront en septembre.
L’entente entre la Couronne et Jaggi inclut les points suivants: i) la Couronne n’appellera pas Jaggi à témoigner lors d’une cause reliée au G20; ii) le plaidoyer de Jaggi ne peut pas être utilisé par la Couronne lors d’autres poursuites reliées au G20; iii) Jaggi ne coopérera pas avec la Couronne ou la police; iv) Jaggi ne présentera pas d’excuses pour ses actions et ses paroles; v) la totalité de l’entente de Jaggi sera publique et ne sera sujette à aucun interdit de publication.
Les représentations pour la détermination de la peine sont entendues aujourdhui par le Juge Bigelow à la Cour de Justice de l’Ontario et il est prévu qu’il rende sa décision sur la sentence le 21 juin. -----
Les groupes suivants ont envoyé des déclarations de soutien publique à Jaggi aujourd'hui:
* No One Is Illegal (Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto & Vancouver): On the Justice of Tearing Down Fences and Dismantling Borders
* La Convergence des luttes anticapitalistes (CLAC): À Montréal, À Toronto et partout! Les murs doivent tomber!
* Solidarité sans frontières: Déclaration de soutien avec Jaggi
* QPIRG Concordia: A Public Statement in Support of Jaggi Singh
* Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP): Support Jaggi Singh and Resistance to Capitalist Austerity 48 * Syndicat des travailleurs et travailleuses des postes (STTP): (à venir)
Si votre groupe ou organisme désire rédiger une lettre de soutien également, ou endosser une lettre déjà écrite, veuillez contacter la CLAC à Montréal via [email protected] -----
ACCORD DE PLAIDOYER
Pièce A: Exposé des faits
Pièce B: Flux Twitter de Jaggi Singh, 3 juin au 6 juillet 2010 (Pourquoi le flux sur Twitter? Celui-ci était public et à l'intention d'un lectorat général. La Couronne utilise le flux du compte Twitter de Jaggi (du 3 juin au 6 juillet 2010) afin de souligner des informations qu'il a diffusées comme: 1) La CLAC publie son journal anti-capitaliste "Coup de semonce!" avant le G20; 2) Des déclarations de Personne n'est illégal diffusées avant et après le G20; 3) Une vidéo diffusée par Jaggi (mais dont il n'est pas l'auteur ni le réalisateur) intitulée "Mon voyage à Toronto", incluant une chanson de Dead Prez nommée "Fuck the Law". Vous pouvez lire les extraits des différents billets directement sur http://www.twitter.com/JaggiMontreal)
Pièce C: Jaggi Singh devant la clôture de sécurité du G20 (24 juin 2010) Les propos de Jaggi, qui font partie de la preuve, peuvent être visionnés en ligne en deux segments : i) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ymRoN54CCc; ii) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9NnAorPigc (à 0:30). Le verbatim des remarques sont disponsible ICI. -----
276 lettres ont été remises au juge aujourd'hui en appui à Jaggi. Plusieurs auteurs ont aussi pleinement soutenu les déclarations faites par Jaggi à la clôture et ont exprimé leur accord avec l'idée voulant que la clôture de sécurité du G20 aurait dû être retirée. À l'unanimité, les auteurs des lettres exhortent le juge d'imposer une peine minimale.
Parmi les groupes qui ont envoyé des lettres de soutien à Jaggi (en tant qu'organisme ou en tant qu'individus au nom d'un organisme): Artivistic, l’Association pour la Défense des Droits et l’Inclusion des personnes qui Consomment des drogues du Québec (ADDICQ), Beehive Design Collective, Center for Community Organizations (CoCo), le Centre des femmes d’ici et d’ailleurs, CKUT Board of Directors, Le Collectif du Salon du livre anarchiste de Montréal, Committee to Aid Refugees (CAR), Le comité exécutif de L’R, Coopérative Nos Rêves (Parc Extension), Community Solidarity Network (Toronto), Dignidad Migrante, le Bibliothèque Anarchiste DIRA, Le Frigo Vert Collective, le Front d’action populaire en réaménagement urbain (FRAPRU), le Front commun des personnes assistées sociales du Québec, le Groupe de Recherche en Intérêt Public de l’Université du Québec à Montréal (GRIP-UQÀM), Head & Hands (NDG), Immigrant Workers Center, Institut de recherche et d’informations socio-économiques (IRIS), JOC-Montréal, Montréal-Nord Républik, National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (Oakland, CA), Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (Toronto), OPIRG Toronto, People’s Potato Collective, Prisoner Correspondence Project, le Projet accompagnement solidarité Colombie (PASC), Purple Thistle Collective (Vancouver), QPIRG Concordia, QPIRG McGill, Radical Reference Montréal, Re-Con, le Regroupement intersectoriel des organismes communautaires de Montréal, Solidarité sans frontières, South Asian Women’s Community Centre, Stella, le Syndicat des travailleurs et travailleurs des postes, le Table des 49 regroupemens provinciaux d’organismes communautaires et bénévoles, Toronto People’s Assembly on Climate Justice
De plus, de multiple individus de Montréal, Toronto, et de partout au Canada, aux États-Unis et outre- mer ont rédigé des lettres de soutien.
INFO: http://www.clac-montreal.net/jaggi
'Off The Hook' Relaunch
Date: Wed, 27 Apr 2011 From: [email protected]
Brighton Anarchist Black Cross has for many years supported Jerome White Bey, both as an anarchist and class struggle prisoner and as president of the Missouri Prisoner Labour Union. Recently we have also been involved in his on-going struggle to get even the most basic health care provision in prison and, because of that commitment, he has asked us to help him relaunch the MPLU's occasional newsletter 'Off The Hook', which sadly has not appeared in recent years.
We have grudgingly accepted his request. Obviously this reticence is not because we do not want to help him and the MPLU but because we are a continent away. That said, the tentacles of the Prison Industrial Complex have long spread across the Atlantic and the struggles in North America are not a great deal different than here in Airstrip One.
So we are therefore asking other prisoner support groups for help in two main ways. Firstly, we need contributions on the subject of organisation and resistance in prisons across the globe, especially where these involve prison labour issues. Past editorial collectives have tried to maintain the ideal of making 'OTH' a useful tool in the prison abolition struggle and we wish to continue down that path.
We also know that those of you that have previously taken on the Editorial role have struggled to publish 'OTH' on a regular basis, whether that be because of time commitments or simply find enough text to fill it on a regular basis. So the second thing we are asking is that groups commit to participating in a rotating editorial collective to help relaunch 'OTH', that way the pressure does not fall upon one particular bunch of people for any prolonged period of time and they can still get on with all their other commitments to the struggle.
Lastly, we note that Prison Action News is currently coming out twice yearly and we would hope we could at least do the same, acting as a complementary sister publication to PAN.
Please contact us with your thoughts on relaunching 'Off The Hook'. Thanks Brighton ABC
PS. Off The Hook #12 available here [http://zinelibrary.info/files/offthehook12.pdf] if you've not seen a copy before.
Invitation To "Law as a Weapon of War" 50 Date: Wed, 27 Apr 2011 From: [email protected]
Dear Allies in Peace, Truth and Justice,
Thank you for your support in the struggle for justice! You are cordially invited to the following event in Atlanta, GA. We would greatly appreciate it if you attend, and distribute widely and announce to your contacts the following social justice event taking place in Atlanta on Preemptive Prosecution of Muslim and African Americans and immigrant communities.
In Solidarity
You are cordially invited to :
“Law as a Weapon of War” A Peoples Assembly to Confront Preemptive Prosecution via the War on Terror, the War on Drugs, and Anti-Immigrant Legislation in the 21st Century
***Preemptive Prosecution: The investigation, prosecution and imprisonment of persons by US law enforcement agencies based on religion, country of origin, political beliefs, and alleged aspirational intent - but not necessarily on material actions***
Join organizers, legal advocates, families, academics, and human rights activists to build alliances between communities affected by preemptive prosecution, racial profiling, and criminalization.
GOALS: - To build a common understanding of the post-9/11 political climate & context regarding preemptive prosecution and racial profiling - To connect the tactics & strategies of the War on Terror, the War on Drugs, and anti- immigrant legislation - To connect the Southern historical and racial context to these strategies - To build alliances across communities targeted by law enforcement agencies, including but limited to immigrant communities, Muslim communities, and Black communities - To lay the foundation for a legal advocacy infrastructure connected to social movements
WHEN: Saturday, May 14 12:30PM-- 5PM
WHERE: Auburn Avenue Research Library 101 Auburn Avenue Northeast Atlanta, GA
Panel Speakers Include: Steve Downs, Esq., Attorney and Co-Founder Project SALAM, Nahal Zamani, Center For Constitutional Rights (CCR) Sonali Sadequee, Atlanta Transformative Justice Collaborative Mel Underbakke, Friends of Human Rights, on the case of Sami Al Arian Jess Sundin, Anti-war activist from Minnesota, on Stop the FBI Rpression Samia Ahmed, Educator and sister of Haris Ahmed, on the case of Haris Ahmed, Atlanta Laila Yaghi, Palestinian American and mother of Ziyad Yaghi, on the case of Raleigh 7
51 Participant Organizations Include: National Coalition To Protect Civil Freedoms (NCPCF); Center For Constitutional Rights (CCR); Project South; Families United For Justice In America (FUJA); The Peace Thru Justice Foundation, Project SALAM, Atlanta International Action Center, National Committee to Stop FBI Repression, Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought (ICIT), National Jericho Movement, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)-GA, Amnesty International-GA, Georgia Immigrants and Refugee Rights Coalition, Movement to End Israeli Apartheid (MEIA- GA); Friends of Human Rights-Tampa; Rights Working Group-Washington, DC; Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation (MAS Freedom) ***** Refreshment will be served*****
To RSVP and co-sponsor the event and to learn more:
Contact: [email protected]
Atlanta Contacts: [email protected]
Find the event on Face book: Law as a Weapon of War
Herman Bell - 25 to Life - What Does That Mean To Me?
25-LIFE - WHAT DOES THAT MEAN TO ME? BY H. BELL, 3/26/11)
Although I have served more than 37 years in prison, I am still unable to wrap my mind around what that means; years of locking in-and-out of cells, letters from home and the occasional family photo; one letter telling that the new baby has arrived, another telling that my niece or nephew is doing well in school and that the neighbor next door died in his sleep; the photo shows Ma-dear and Dad looking good but are noticeably older, 25-life (what does that mean to me?).
If you were a family man, like I was, with a young wife and two rambunctious boys, the separation had to have been heart-wrenching. It was for me. My boys, Johnes and Keith, had thoroughly broken me into domesticity: feeding them, changing and washing their diapers, dressing them, consoling them, taking them for their shots. Hoping the family dog wouldn't bite me for reprimanding them. Their mother, high-spirited and the love of my lie, was no less challenging; a borderline red-bone, with a delightful spray of freckles across her nose and cheeks, almond-shaped eyes and pouty lips. During our feuds, rather than talk, we wrote notes to 52 each other and the children handed them to us.
What does doing 25-life mean to me? As I mull over this question, I am reminded of Elmina, the Portuguese slave fortress, located on the West coast of Ghana from which enchained afrikans were led through its infamous "door-of-no-return" to the holds of waiting slave ships that would take them to the New World. I too feel as though I've walked through a "door-of-no-return."
IMPRISONMENT (A MODERN PLANTATION)
If one knew nothing about the geography of a town in upstate NY where one is imprisoned, then one can readily imagine what the afrikan slave must have felt on a southern plantation � not knowing where to run or how to get there. For me, getting from Attica or Clinton Dannemora, to my hood, seemed no different than for the afrikan on a slave plantation in Georgia getting from there back to Afrika. Across the country, I have been held in many jails, and my family has had to travel thousands of miles to see me at considerable expense.
You know how families are received at these places: standing in the elements to get in; suffering the indignities of disparaging remarks; seating arrangements; frustrating package rules. Prison is where spiteful, petty, contemptible, morally unkind acts find free expression at the whim of those who have authority over us. The keepers are vigilant and they instinctively ferret out unguarded self-esteem, courage, and strength. Prison is designed to break you down, not build you up. It casually destroys the weak and unwary (as though they were an afterthought), and turns the spiritually debased into beasts. What's not so strange about this is that the spiritually debased elicits no particular attention from the keepers. 25-life (what does that mean to me?).
AS THE YEARS GO BY
Time, faces, and relationships change, and like sand cascading down the funnel of an hourglass, nothing can resist this change. One day, you look in the mirror and see gray hair and a face that tells you you've aged; your body tells you that too. Some of your old friends have moved on and new ones have come to take their place.
Your mother and father may have passed away, as have mine, and I was unable to see them buried. You may have contemplated numerous possible scenarios, should you be imprisoned, but never that; and neither did I. The years take their 53 toll, the people you believed in, the certainties you once embraced might have led you to realize that the more you know, the more you realize you don't know. With luck, we come to understand that humility and wisdom come with age and experience, and that death is often merciful.
RELEASE TIME AND ITS UNCERTAINTY
In doing 25-life, you never now when your release time will come; as it is with death, you can never foretell the day it will knock on your door. Yet, in both instances, you better be prepared.
MAKE TIME WORK FOR YOU (SELF-IMPROVEMENT
The old-timers in here will tell you: make time work for you, not against you.
Education: I earned a dual Bachelor of Science degree in psychology and sociology and a master's in sociology. It was hard work and could not have been accomplished without discipline, commitment, and sacrifice. Through the self-help projects I've developed on the outside while imprisoned, e.g., Calendar, Community Gardens, I have built remarkable relationships inside and outside these walls. And I have managed to keep a good name (which is all one can rightly claim as one's own in here). Because of that, I have managed to make it through the day, one day at a time. 25-life (what does that mean to me?).
THE PAROLE BOARD
Parole is discretionary, we are told, not a right. When one's freedom is withheld by another, be it a state institution or a private individual, it's tantamount to slavery and is a poignant reminder that slavery was never abolished in the US; the 13th Amendment preserved it.
State parole commissioners have guidelines to aid them in their parole decision; that decision, nevertheless, is still subjective. A host of variables weigh in on this process, including the kind of day a commissioner is having, societal stereotypes, the crime that one committed 30 years ago. As a parole candidate, one has to be impressed by what I've accomplished inside and on the outside; and my disciplinary is exemplary. Yet my next Board appearance will mark 10 years beyond my minimum sentence. And I am not alone in this experience. Because of consistent denials, one is led to conclude that more is involved in these parole denials than what meets the eye. One is led to conclude that power, politics, and economics are driving them. And 54 that this triumvirate serves special interests. Yet those invested in this practice, and who profit handsomely from it, still argue that the mission of prisons is and always shall be about corrections and rehabilitation. They argue that prisons are not used as an employment agency or as a tool of social repression. But if that were true, then surely fewer people would be in prison today.
CONCLUSION
This is just a tiny piece of the picture. The point is that we remain in the grips of an economic order and culture that's as formidable and treacherous as the recent quake, tsunami, and meltdown in Japan, and I wish it were not so.
Think about it. What do you or I produce in prison? Okay, there is the Corcraft Industry, which generates a few million dollars a year, yet it's a pittance compared to the bigger picture relating to you and me. Billions are made just by keeping us in a cell. Our very presence is the raw product that sustains the prison industry. It did the same during chattel slavery for almost 400 years, and, like today, we've benefited none from it. Today, our people spend well over 500 billion in the US economy, and we control practically none of it. The only institution of any consequence we control today is the Black church.
Today, the sons and daughters of the people employed to keep us here have begun to keep watch over us and our children, who now are finding themselves in here. We have to get out of these places, stay out of them and keep others out. And while still in here, it is our duty to use this time constructively, and thus be an asset to our communities when we get out. That way, we turn this thing on its head, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, which in this instance is what is meant by: falling in a shithouse and coming out smelling like a rose.
We Are Troy Davis
This Could Be Any of Us
By JEN MARLOWE Counterpunch April 27, 2011
Last Monday, I attended the funeral service of Virginia Davis in Savannah, GA. Reverend Dr. Warnock delivered a passionate eulogy for Virginia, which ended with a powerful call to action: The best way to honor Virginia's life, he said, is to fight for her son Troy's life.
55 I am writing to ask you to help fight for Troy's life.
Troy Davis is on death row for the 1989 murder of police officer Mark MacPhail in Savannah, GA. Troy has always maintained his innocence, and there was never any physical evidence linking him to the crime. 7 out of the 9 non-police witnesses have since recanted or changed their testimony. New witnesses have come forth identifying another suspect. Yet, on March 28, the US Supreme Court denied Troy's final appeal, clearing the way for Georgia to set the execution date. Troy's sister, Martina, said her mother "died of a broken heart. I don't think my mother could have taken another execution date."
That execution date could be set any day now. Troy's life will then be in the hands of Georgia's Board of Pardon & Paroles, who has the power to grant Troy clemency.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
1. Sign the Amnesty USA petition, asking the GA Board of Pardons & Parole to grant Troy clemency, and forward it to others.
2. Collect signatures on a download-able version of the petition.
3. If you are a lawyer or a legal professional: add your name to the legal professional sign-on letter
4. If you are a member of the clergy: add your name to the clergy sign-on letter.
5. If you have contacts with legal professionals or members of the clergy, forward them the sign-on letters and urge them to sign.
6. If you have contacts in Georgia, urge them to sign the petition or, sign-on letters (if they are legal professionals or members of the clergy.) It is important that the Board know that this issue matter to folks around the country and around the world--but especially that it matters to folks in Georgia.
Troy's case is deeply personal to me. Troy is a friend of mine. I have corresponded with Troy for the last four years, visited him twice in prison, and written about his case. I have gotten to know and become close to his incredible family, and witnessed first-hand their struggle to bring justice to Troy.
But even if Troy was not my friend, even if I did not know the Davis family--Troy's case should still be deeply personal to me, deeply personal to all of us. As Laura Moye (the Amnesty USA death penalty abolition coordinator) and I were gathering petition signatures in Savannah last week among union-member day laborers, a young man called out emotionally, "Troy could be your brother, your son! This could be any of us!"
Put another way (as the T-shirt in support of Troy states) "I am Troy Davis."
I hope you will take the time to learn more about Troy's case. Thank you in advance for doing all you can to prevent Troy's execution. As the young man in the union hall reminded me, Troy is all of us.
Jen Marlowe is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, author, playwright, human rights advocate, and founder of donkeysaddle projects. Her new book, The Hour of Sunlight: One 56 Palestinian's Journey from Prisoner to Peacemaker, co-written with and about Palestinian peace activist Sami Al Jundi, has just been published by Nation Books. Her previous book was Darfur Diaries: Stories of Survival. Her email address is: [email protected]
Eddie Conway's Story
A Doomed Man?
By RON JACOBS Counterpunch April 27, 2011
"The first lesson a revolutionary must learn is that he is a doomed man."
--Huey Newton
For as long as I can remember, Baltimore has had the reputation as a corrupt and tough town. City Hall is known as a cashbox for the thieves that run it. The cops are no-nonsense and care little about the Bill of Rights, especially when dealing with the city's poor and non-white residents. Neighborhoods are closed societies that one is hesitant to walk through unless he is a resident. The demarcations between the wealthy and poorer neighborhoods are enforced, often quite forcefully, by the police. When I worked at an IHOP in the mid-1970s about twenty miles outside of Baltimore I would occasionally end up in a certain after hours club in one of the city's rougher sections. I was often the only white male in the room, although there were often several white women. The guys I was hanging with made sure that nobody screwed with me, but my safety (or anyone else's) was never guaranteed. There was a fellow I drank with there who I used to talk politics with. He claimed to be a former member of the Baltimore Black Panthers and talked a lot about Panther member Marshall Eddie Conway, who had been in prison since 1970 on a very questionable conviction.
It was with this memory in mind that I recently read Marshall Law: The Life and Times of a Baltimore Black Panther. This memoir describes Conway's early life in Baltimore, his introduction to the Black Panthers, his eventual arrest and conviction for murder, and his life in prison since then. The details of the case, like so many cases against Black Panthers, are sketchy and based on the testimony of an informant who was only brought in when the prosecutor saw how weak the case against Conway was. In fact, Conway's arrest was the result of a tip from an informant who was never identified and whose existence has never been verified. At the time of his arrest Conway was working at the US Post Office. The Baltimore chapter of the Panthers had already been the target of intense law enforcement surveillance and infiltration under the aegis of the COINTELPRO program. A show trial based on the indictments drawn up from this surveillance resulted in no convictions and the dismissal of the charges. During Conway's trial for murder, no physical evidence was ever presented that linked him to the crime scene. Police officers at the scene could not positively identify Conway and he was denied representation by a lawyer of his choice. The prosecution relied primarily on a supposed jailhouse confession that Conway claims did not occur. He maintains his innocence to this day.
There is another aspect to this story. It is Conway's commitment to revolutionary struggle, self improvement and the betterment of others whose lives and circumstances have brought them to prison. Unlike so many Americans, Conway has always opposed drugs, in large part because they destroy communities and lives. His politics have enabled him to stay free of drugs and the associated business. This story of a young black man railroaded into prison because of his race and politics does not end
57 with that sentence. The reader is presented with Conway's life inside the Maryland prison system. Lockdowns, fires, riots and the daily grind of so much of one's physical activity being controlled by others. While reading Marshall Law I was constantly reminded of Bob Dylan's lines from the ballad "George Jackson": "Sometimes I think that this world/Is one big prison yard./Some of us are prisoners and some of us are guards." As Conway learned and explains through his tale, freedom is not only a physical concept but also an existential state.
In prose both concise and personal, Eddie Conway's memoir is essentially a story about hope. Here is a man who has been in prison for forty years for a crime many people are convinced he did not commit, yet he maintains a realistic optimism in his situation and that of the world. The hope he maintains is not one based on some pie-in-the-sky scheme. Instead, it is based on a practical understanding of the merits and rewards of political organizing. As Conway tells the reader, those merits are not only seen in the programs and other results brought to life by political organizing, they are also seen in the personal meaning they give to those doing the organizing. From the Black Panthers community breakfast programs he was involved in to the various programs he helped organize in the Maryland prison system, Conway proves the values of organizing again and again.
Marshall Eddie Conway remains in prison. His case is one of many that is supported by a number of prisoner support organizations including the Jericho Movement. Many of the prisoners involved are considered political prisoners since the circumstances of their arrests and convictions are the result of their political activities. Indeed, some are clearly the result of frameups by law enforcement. Most of these prisoners have spent considerably more time in prison than other men and women serving time for similar crimes but not known for their political convictions. It is clear from reading Marshall Law: The Life and Times of a Baltimore Black Panther that should he achieve his freedom, he will not compromise his beliefs to do so. This may be why he remains locked up.
Ron Jacobs is author of The Way the Wind Blew: a History of the Weather Underground and Short Order Frame Up. Jacobs' essay on Big Bill Broonzy is featured in CounterPunch's collection on music, art and sex, Serpents in the Garden. His new novel is The Co-Conspirator's Tale. He can be reached at: [email protected]
US Govn´t Opposes Gerardo Hernandez Habeas Corpus Motion cubanews.ain.cu
HAVANA, Cuba, Apr 26 (acn) The US government filed an opposition to the habeas corpus motion filed by Gerardo Hernandez, one of the five Cuban antiterrorists unjustly incarcerated in the United States since 1998.
The filing requests the US district court of the Southern District of Florida to deny the motion without evidentiary hearing and to rely on its own recollection of the previous trial.
The government’s opposition is a 123-page and three-annex document filed on Monday by DA Caroline Heck Millar, who led the prosecution against Gerardo Hernadez in the 2001 biased trial and asked for his two-life term plus 15 year sentence.
Heck Miller also asked harsh sentences for Ramón Labañino, René Gonzalez, Antonio Guerrero and Fernando Gonzalez in that trial. The Cuban Five, as they are known internationally, were arrested in 1998 for monitoring Miami-based anti-Cuban terrorist organizations.
58 She refused to try confessed terrorist Luis Posada Carriles in 2005.
Cuban Parliament President Ricardo Alarcón recently spoke to the press on the habeas corpus filed by Gerardo Hernandez at the Florida court to vacate, set aside or correct his sentence.
In this document Gerardo gives details of the circumstances that deprived him of having an effective defense in the 2001 trial to face the charge of conspiracy to commit murder in the incident of the 1996 shootdown of two aircrafts that violated Cuba’s airspace.
The US government has consistently refused to show available images that would prove the veracity of Gerardo’s claims, said Alarcon.
In his motion, Gerardo asks the court to allow him to prove the erroneous interpretations the government made of the evidence and let the jury know the truth, concluded Alarcon.
3rd Circuit Appeal Ruling Favoring Abu-Jamal Smacks Down US Supreme Court
April 26, 2011 by Linn Washington Jr. This Can't Be Happening
The federal Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia, in a stunning smack at the U.S. Supreme Court, has issued a ruling upholding its earlier decision backing a new sentencing hearing in the controversial case of Mumia Abu-Jamal, the convicted killer of Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner.
The latest ruling, issued on Tuesday April 26, 2011, upholds a ruling the Third Circuit issued over two years ago siding with a federal district court judge who, back in 2001, had set aside Abu-Jamal’s death penalty after determining that death penalty instructions provided to the jury, and a flawed jury ballot document used during Abu-Jamal’s 1982 trial, had been unclear.
The U.S. Supreme Court had ordered the Third Circuit to re-examine its 2009 ruling upholding the lifting of Abu-Jamal’s death sentence.
The nation’s top court had cited a new legal precedent in that directive to the Third Circuit, a strange order given the fact that the Supreme Court had earlier consistently declined to apply its own precedents to Abu-Jamal’s case.
The Associated Press was the first to report the Third Circuit’s latest dramatic ruling and in fact, as of the morning of the ruling’s release, the decision had still not been posted on the appeals court’s website.
Abu-Jamal’s current lead attorney, Prof Judith Ritter of the Widener Law School, could not be reached for comment.
59
Mumia Abu-Jamal
The Third Circuit’s ruling, if left standing, requires Philadelphia prosecutors to call for a whole new sentencing hearing if they want to try and reinstate the death penalty. That would require the impaneling of a whole new jury, to hear and consider evidence regarding mitigating circumstances and aggravating circumstances in the case, and then to decide for either execution of life-without- possibility of parole--the only two options legally available. Abu-Jamal has exhausted his avenues of appeal of his conviction, absent new evidence in the case.
If prosecutors opted against holding new hearing then Abu-Jamal’s sentence would be converted automatically to a life sentence, which in Pennsylvania means no chance of parole. Abu-Jamal would have to spending the remainder of his life behind bars, though not on death row.
Experts contend a new sentencing hearing would be problematic for prosecutors. Although the issue of guilt or innocence would not be on trial, the defense could bring in witnesses to explain exactly what they saw happen the night of the shooting--witnesses whose testimony could ultimately raise new questions about the validity of the underlying conviction.
It is almost a certainty that prosecutors will appeal the Third Circuit’s latest ruling back up to the Supreme Court. Furthermore, prosecutors concede that current and yet unresolved legal issues in this case, which continues to attract unprecedented international scrutiny, will keep it in courts for years. For example, there are several avenues of appeal of Abu-Jamal's death sentence which were never adjudicated by the Federal District court, which mooted them after the Judge, William Yohn, found in favor of one argument and tossed out the death sentence.
In early April 2011 the NAACP Legal Defense Fund publicly announced it was joining the Abu-Jamal defense team and working with Professor Ritter. NAACP lawyers had joined Ritter last fall during the hearing where she argued the legal point just upheld by the Third Circuit in its latest ruling.
Recently Abu-Jamal recorded yet another birthday (4/24) inside a death row isolation cell. Abu-Jamal and the 222 other Pennsylvania death row inmates spend 23-hours per day every day isolated inside minimalist cells.
Since 1983 Abu-Jamal has languished in the confinement of death row, following his controversial July 1982 conviction for the murder of Officerl Faulkner.
60 Now 57, Abu-Jamal has spent nearly 29 years of his life in prison for a crime he has consistently denied committing--a crime that ample evidence conclusively proves could not have occurred as police and prosecutors have proclaimed.
Authorities, for example, claim Abu-Jamal fired four shots at the policeman, while straddling the officer as he lay defenseless on a sidewalk, striking him only once with a fatal shot in the face.
However, police crime scene photos and police reports make no reference of any bullet marks in that sidewalk around the fallen officer--marks that should have been clearly visible if Abu-Jamal fired three shots at almost point-blank range into the sidewalk as witnesses and the prosecutor claimed.
As detailed in an thorough investigative ballistic test released in September 2010 by This Can’t Be Happening! (See our film at the bottom of the home page), it is impossible to fire high-velocity bullets into a sidewalk without leaving any marks. TCBH! test-fired each kind of .38-caliber bullets referenced in police reports about the 1981 crime scene into a slab of old city sidewalk, and each of those bullets left easily visible marks…marks totally contradicting claims by authorities that Abu- Jamal wildly fired into the sidewalk without leaving bullet marks.
Rulings by federal and state courts denying Abu-Jamal the legal relief routinely granted other inmates who had raised the same appeals claims are the least-examined element of this internationally- condemned injustice.
The same Philadelphia and Pennsylvania courts that found major flaws by either defense attorneys, police, prosecutors and/or trial judges in 86 Philadelphia death penalty convictions during a 28-year period after Abu-Jamal’s December 1981 arrest declare no errors exist anywhere in the Abu-Jamal case – an assertion critics call statistically improbable.
The federal Third Circuit, for example, declined to grant Abu-Jamal a new trial based on solid legal issues from racial discrimination by prosecutors in jury selection to documented errors by trial judge Albert Sabo, the late jurist who relished his infamous reputation for pro-prosecution bias.
The Third Circuit’s 2008 ruling faulting Sabo for his inability to provide the jury with simple death penalty deliberation instructions included the contradictory conclusion that Sabo had adequately provided the jury with instructions about a highly complicated legal issue involving misconduct by the trial prosecutor.
Faulting Sabo for that flawed instruction on prosecutorial misconduct would have required the Third Circuit to give Abu-Jamal a whole new trial. Unwilling to do that, the court sidestepped its duty to ensure justice, by deciding to just eliminate Abu-Jamal’s death sentence, instead.
Pennsylvania state courts have released three Philadelphians from death row (half of Pa’s death row exonerations to date) citing misconduct by police and prosecutors…misconduct that was less egregious than that documented in the Abu-Jamal case. One of those Philadelphia exonerations involved a man framed by police for a mob-related killing, who was arrested six months before Abu- Jamal.
61 While many people in Philadelphia may feel Abu-Jamal is guilty as charged, millions around the world question every aspect of this conviction, citing facts that proponents of Abu-Jamal’s conviction deliberately dismiss as irrelevant.
This widespread questioning of Abu-Jamal’s guilt is the reason why pro-Abu-Jamal activities occurred around the world commemorating Abu-Jamal’s 4/24 birthday, including people in San Francisco attending a screening of the “Justice on Trial” movie examining ignored aspects in the case, and people marching for Abu-Jamal’s freedom in the Brixton section of London.
Officials in the French city of Saint-Denis will stage a ceremony rededicating a street they named for Abu-Jamal during the last weekend in April.
The ire erupting over Abu-Jamal’s prominence on the part of advocates of his execution contains contradictions that are as clear as the proverbial black-&-white.
The U.S. Congress engaged in color-coded contradiction approving a May 2006 resolution condemning far off Saint-Denis for its honoring Abu-Jamal by placing his name on a small one block long street.
Over a decade before that anti-Saint-Denis outrage, over 100 members of Congress had battled to block the U.S. government from deporting a white fugitive convicted of killing a British Army officer in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
That officer’s killing had occurred during an investigation into the murder of another Belfast policeman.
Incidentally, the U.S. Congress did not erupt angrily when the City Council of New York City voted to place the name of that fugitive – Joseph Doherty – on the street corner outside the federal detention center then housing him.
In 1988 – six years after Abu-Jamal’s conviction – more than 3,000 Philadelphians signed petitions asking federal authorities to grant Doherty special permission to leave his federal detention cell for one day to allow Doherty to serve as Grand Marshall of Philadelphia’s St Patrick’s Day Parade.
One Philly supporter of suspected convicted cop killer Doherty was the then-President Judge of Philadelphia’s trial courts, Edward J. Bradley.
Judge Bradley told a reporter in 1988 that he had no problems as a jurist reconciling his support for a convicted felon because he questioned the “fair treatment” Irish nationals received in English courts.
Judge Bradley’s concern about fairness for IRA fighters in English courts is not parallelled by any concern about fairness in Philadelphia courts with regard to the case of former Black Panther Party member Abu-Jamal. Judge Bradley's double standard highlights the gross unfairness of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania state court judges.
Critics who castigate those who contribute to Abu-Jamal’s defense fund, especially by Hollywood stars, did not object to fund-raising on behalf of one of the white Los Angeles policemen convicted in federal court for the 1991 beating of Rodney King. That criminal cop was allowed to keep nearly $10- 62 million in sales from his book and from a fund-raising campaign on his behalf – monies generated mainly after that the former police sergeant's imprisonment following a civil rights violation conviction.
One reason the decades-old Abu-Jamal case continues to generate support and rage is Abu-Jamal himself.
A charismatic figure who is articulate, with a level of education and intelligence atypical of the mainly illiterate denizens of death row, Abu-Jamal is able to explain his case, as well as to expose the horrors of the nation's prison system and its death rows.
While on death row Abu-Jamal has written six critically acclaimed books (including one on jailhouse lawyers), produced thousands of commentaries, learned two foreign languages, earned two college degrees, including a masters, and developed a loyal support network comprising millions worldwide.
Even the prosecutor at Abu-Jamal’s 1982 trial – Joseph McGill – described him during that trial as the most “intelligent” defendant he’d ever faced.
And another prosecutor, during Abu-Jamal’s tainted 1995 appeals hearing, said he didn’t think “the shooting of Officer Faulkner is characteristic of this defendant.” (Abu-Jamal had no record of violence or criminal acts before his 1981 arrest.)
Supporters applaud Abu-Jamal’s defense of the downtrodden, particularly his poignant criticisms of America’s prison-industrial complex, that incarcerates more people per capita than any other country on earth.
Abu-Jamal’s stance highlighting the deprivations of the have-nots, predated his arrest, and had earned him the title of “Voice of the Voiceless” during his professional broadcast reporting career, which ran from 1975 till his December 1981 arrest.
Abu-Jamal rarely uses his world-wide platform to speak about his own plight, preferring to focus instead on the injustices endured by others.
Court grants new sentencing for Mumia Abu-Jamal
April 26, 2011 By MARYCLAIRE DALE Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA - April 26, 2011 (WPVI) -- A federal appeals court on Tuesday ordered a new sentencing hearing for convicted police killer and death-row activist Mumia Abu-Jamal, finding for a second time that the death-penalty instructions given to the jury at his 1982 trial were potentially misleading.
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals told prosecutors to conduct the new sentencing hearing for the former Black Panther within six months or agree to a life sentence. Abu-Jamal's first-degree murder conviction still stands in the fatal shooting of Officer Daniel Faulkner, who was white.
District Attorney Seth Williams pledged to mount another appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, at the urging of Faulkner's widow, Maureen. 63 "Yes, the criminal justice system in Philadelphia, the criminal justice system in America, have had a history of problems and racism," said Williams, the city's first black district attorney. "(But) this is not a whodunit."
Abu-Jamal's worldwide followers "don't know the facts," Williams said.
Defense lawyers said the ruling addresses "an unfortunate chapter in Pennsylvania history."
"Pennsylvania long ago abandoned the confusing and misleading instructions and verdict slip that were relied on in Mr. Abu-Jamal's trial in order to prevent unfair and unjust death sentences," said Widener University law professor Judith Ritter, who argued the most recent appeal in November. "Mr. Abu-Jamal is entitled to no less constitutional protection."
Tuesday's ruling is the latest in Abu-Jamal's long-running legal saga.
A federal judge in 2001 first granted him a new sentencing hearing because of the trial judge's instructions on aggravating and mitigating factors. Philadelphia prosecutors have been fighting the order since, but the 3rd Circuit ruled against them in a pivotal 2008 decision.
In rejecting a similar claim in an Ohio death-penalty case last year, the Supreme Court ordered the Philadelphia appeals court to revisit its Abu-Jamal decision.
On Tuesday, the 3rd Circuit judges stood their ground and noted differences in the two cases.
Under Pennsylvania law, Abu-Jamal should have received a life sentence if a single juror found the mitigating circumstances outweighed the aggravating factors in Faulkner's slaying. The three-judge appeals panel found the verdict form confusing, given its repeated use of the word "unanimous," even in the section on mitigating circumstances.
"The Pennsylvania Supreme Court failed to evaluate whether the complete text of the verdict form, together with the jury instructions, would create a substantial probability the jury believed both aggravating and mitigating circumstances must be found unanimously," Judge Anthony J. Scirica wrote in the 32-page ruling.
The decision upholds the 2001 ruling by U.S. District Judge William H. Yohn Jr., who first ruled that the flawed jury instructions warranted a new sentencing hearing. While prosecutors were fighting that ruling, Abu-Jamal has been trying unsuccessfully to have his conviction overturned.
Faulkner, a white 25-year-old patrolman, had pulled over Abu-Jamal's brother on a downtown street at about 4 a.m. one morning in 1981. Abu-Jamal, a former radio reporter, was working as a cabbie at the time.
According to trial testimony, Faulkner stopped the brother, William Cook, for a driving infraction. Abu-Jamal, from his taxicab across the street, saw them scuffle and ran toward the scene. Police found Abu-Jamal wounded by a round from Faulkner's gun. Faulkner, shot several times, was dead. A .38- caliber revolver registered to Abu-Jamal was found at the scene with five spent shell casings.
64 Abu-Jamal, born Wesley Cook, turned 58 on Sunday. His writings and radio broadcasts from death row in western Pennsylvania have made him a cause celebre and the subject of numerous books and movies. His own 1995 book, "Live From Death Row," describes prison life and calls the justice system racist and ruled by political expediency.
Hundreds of vocal supporters and death-penalty opponents regularly turn out for court hearings in his case, even though Abu-Jamal is rarely entitled to attend.
Systematic Injustice Against Sundiata Acoli
April 26, 2011 by Stephen Lendman sjlendman.blogspot.com In her book titled "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness," Michelle Alexander cites Martin Luther King in 1968 highlighting the need to shift from civil to human rights advocacy, saying initiatives for it just began. In fact, it's truer now than then with Blacks and Hispanics comprising two-thirds of America's prison population, by far the world's largest at around 2.4 million, most incarcerated for nonviolent or political reasons.
Focusing on the war on drugs, Alexander characterizes the New Jim Crow as a modern-day racial caste system designed by elitists who embrace colorblindness. Believing poor Blacks are dangerous and economically superfluous, America's gulag became an instrument of control. According to Alexander:
"Any movement to end mass incarceration must deal with (it) as a racial caste system, not (a method) of crime control. We need an effective system of crime prevention and control in our communities, but that is not what the current system is. (It's) better designed to create crime, and a perpetual class of people labeled criminals, rather than to eliminate crime or reduce the number of criminals."
Overall, America's most vulnerable are victimized by judicial unfairness, get tough on crime policies, a guilty unless proved innocent mentality, three strikes and you're out, racist drug laws, poverty, and advocacy for social justice issues challenging repressive state policies.
As a result, figures like former UN ambassador Andrew Young believes "(t)here are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people (in America incarcerated as) political prisoners." Including undocumented Latino immigrants and other aliens, it's tens of thousands, an April 2011 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report saying Washington annually spends over $1.5 billion imprisoning them.
Currently, around 55,000 are in federal prisons, another 75,000 in state facilities. At a November 2010 Workers World Party conference, International Action Center organizer Gloria Verdieu said:
"Freeing all political prisoners, prisoners of conscience and prisoners of war" tops America's social justice struggle, "because the state uses the criminal justice system to lock up those who sacrifice their livelihood for freedom and justices for the masses."
In fact, international precedent recognizes releasing them. France freed anarchists, Germany Baader- Meinhof figures, and Britain IRA members. Not America, however, in contrast to notorious criminals pardoned, including Iran-Contra conspirators Caspar Weinberger, Elliott Abrams and John Poindexter, as well as others convicted of serious offenses warranting long internments.
65 Unlike them, today in America, heroic activists are incarcerated unjustly, including Mumia Abu- Jamal, Leonard Peltier, Ramsey Muniz, Oscar Lopez Rivera, the Cuban Five, lawyers Lynne Stewart and Paul Bergrin, and, among many others, Sundiata Acoli (born Clark Edward Squire) for 38 years.
Access his complete profile at: http://www.sundiataacoli.org/
Born in January 1937, it calls him a New African political prisoner of war, mathematician, and computer analyst with a BA in math from Prairie View A & M College. In summer 1964, he did voter registration work in Mississippi. In 1968, he joined the Harlem Black Panther Party, doing community work relating to schools, housing, jobs, child care, drugs, and police brutality.
In 1969, he and others were arrested in the Panther 21 conspiracy case, jailed for two years without bail, then acquitted and released. Afterward, FBI pressure denied him professional employment, and COINTELPRO harassment and surveillance drove him underground.
Driving on the New Jersey Turnpike in May 1973, he and others were accosted by state troopers. Zayd Shakur was killed, Assata Shakur wounded and captured. One state trooper was killed, another wounded. Acoli was captured days later. In a highly charged, "sensationalized and prejudicial" trial, he was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life plus 30 years.
Initially for five years at Trenton State Prison (TSP), he was confined to a special Management Control Unit (MCU) solely for political reasons, given only 10 minutes daily for showers and two hours weekly for recreation.
The International Jurist (TIJ) "publishes perspectives and opinions on the current state of international law and its future," especially international humanitarian law, human rights law, transitional justice and international criminal law, and comparative law.
After interviewing Acoli in September 1979, TIJ declared him a political prisoner. Days later, he was secretly transferred to solitary confinement at maximum security US Penitentiary, Marion, IL despite no outstanding federal charges. In July 1987, he was sent to Leavenworth, KS federal prison.
Eligible for parole in fall 1992, he was denied permission to attend his own hearing, permitted only to participate by prison phone. Despite his exemplary prison work, academic and disciplinary record, hundreds of supportive letters, and numerous offers as a computer professional, he was denied in a 20 minute proceeding, giving him "a 20-year hit, the longest in New Jersey history," minimally requiring him to serve another 12 years before again becoming eligible for parole.
Reasons given were his Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army membership, as well as hundreds of "Free Sundiata" form letters calling him a "New Afrikan Prisoner of War" and that he hadn't been sufficiently rehabilitated. At issue, however, is forcing him to renounce his social justice advocacy and admit wrongdoing for struggling to liberate his people.
On March 4, 2010, the New Jersey State Parole Board (NJPB) denied him for the third time, again calling him "not rehabilitated" despite over a 1,000 supportive letters and petitions from noted figures, including lawyers, clergy, academics, psychologists, community members, and journalists. 66
Then in mid-July, with no explanation, he got written notice of a 10-year hit, requiring at least another six years imprisonment before parole eligibility at which time he'll be 79 years old or perhaps dead.
On August 27, 2010, an administrative appeal to the New Jersey Parole Board was filed, his legal advisers saying his case is strong based on NJPB procedural errors.
Throughout his incarceration, he's endured harsh treatment yet maintained an exemplary record, as well as becoming a talented painter and writer on prison industrial complex issues. He's also a father, grandfather, and both brother and mentor to fellow inmates besides making invaluable community contributions before incarceration.
In the 1960s, after years as a skilled computer programmer, he participated in southern civil rights struggles. Moreover, his New York chapter Black Panther Party activities involved him in numerous social justice struggles, including education, slum housing, school breakfasts, healthcare, legal help, and politics. He also worked on anti-drug and police brutality initiatives, an admirable record overall deserving praise, not incarceration for nearly four decades.
A Final Comment
On April 17, 2011, Acoli's latest article headlined, "Sundiata Acoli: Why You Should Support Black Political Prisoners/POWs and How," saying:
"My name is Sundiata Acoli....and am now a Black Political Prisoner and Prisoner or War (PP/POW) who's been (incarcerated) for the last 37 years."
"So why should you care," he asked? "Why should you support Black PP/POWs? Well, maybe you shouldn't. If you're happy with (how America) and the world is going, and if you want (Washington and Western powers) to dominate and oppress the rest of the world, then (don't) support Black PP/POWs (and it agenda to end predatory) capitalism, sexism, (racism), and all unjust oppressions of people and life (on) earth."
That advocacy got Acoli and many others imprisoned for supporting and doing the right thing. Now it's up to mass activism no longer to tolerate it.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at [email protected]. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening. http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.
Commemorating Palestinian Political Prisoners
April 24, 2011 by Stephen Lendman warisacrime.org Since 1979, April 17 annually is Palestinian Prisoners Day, commemorating Mahmoud Hijazi's 1974 release - the first ever prisoner swap with Israel.
Acknowledging the day, the Addameer Prisoners Support and Human Rights Association 67 highlighted the thousands of persecuted prisoners, launching a new campaign on their behalf "to raise awareness of specific cases....whose detention (pose) serious risks."
Ayed Dudeen is one of many affected, incarcerated without charge or trial since October 2007, the longest interned administrative detainee. A father of six, he's, in fact, been held for most of the past 19 years unjustly like so many others for shorter or longer periods.
Addressing Attorney General Menachem Mazuz, Military Judge Advocate General Avihai Mandelblit, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Israel's Permanent UN Mission in Geneva, Addameer expressed "strong concerns" on his behalf.
Serving as deputy director of the Hebron Palestinian Red Crescent Society ambulance and emergency services, his detention was renewed 30 times, most recently on April 11, 2011. Yet no evidence proves criminality, political or otherwise. Nonetheless, he's been denied minimal due process, preventing his right to a just defense.
Addameer expressed outrage about "the manifest breaches of human rights and international humanitarian law" violations against him, like so many others. As a result, the organization strongly urged:
-- his immediate and unconditional release, as well as others unjustly held;
-- an immediate end to arbitrary arrests and administrative detentions without charge for indefinite periods; and
-- respect for international human rights and humanitarian law provisions regarding arrests, detentions and treatment.
Addameer currently estimates about 6,000 political prisoners in Israeli prisons. The Prisoners at Risk Campaign highlights cases getting little public attention yet deserve urgent action. They include:
-- prisoners seriously ill at risk of further deterioration because of willful medical neglect;
-- those held indefinitely without charge of trial;
-- human rights activists;
-- those longest held; and
-- those severely tortured because they refuse to be silent about their ill- treatment.
Addameer's director, Sahar Francis, says:
"This campaign, and its focus on the mobilization of international civil society, is absolutely essential because the failure of peace talks, including Oslo (and subsequent sham efforts), to resolve the prisoner issue has amply demonstrated that without intense external pressure, Israel will never abide by international human rights and humanitarian law."
On April 17, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) headlined its press release, "Palestine Prisoners Day - Narratives Behind Locked Doors," saying:
68 Commemorated annually, the day "support(s) and recognize(s) Palestinians currently in custody in Israel" unjustly. According to the Adalah Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, the number ranges from the current low up to 12,000 or more, mostly for political and related reasons, including women and children.
From 1967 - 2008, Addameer reported over 650,000 detained, or about 20% of the total Occupied Territory (OPT) population and 40% of all males. Moreover, since the beginning of the September 2000 second Intifada, 70,000 were interned. According to PCHR, 760,000 have been held since 1967. Currently, it states, about 6,500 are detained, including over 250 children and 37 women.
Most are held in Palestine, but many others in Israeli civil and military prisons, in violation of numerous Fourth Geneva provisions, including Article 49 stating:
"....forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons (including prisoners) from occupied territory to the territory of the Occupying Power or to that of any other country, occupied or not, are prohibited, regardless of their motive."
"PCHR notes with particular concern the many violations of human rights and humanitarian law that prisoners are subjected to while in Israeli detention. In particular violations of Articles 7, 9 and 10 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which Israel is a State Party."
Moreover, children are treated like adults in brazen violation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), defining a minor is anyone below age 18. Israel is a CRC signatory yet violates this law like all other international ones flagrantly.
On June 7, 1967, Military proclamation No. 1 justified detentions "in the interests of security and public order," subjecting all Palestinians to police state persecution. Hundreds of other orders followed, gravely harming their rights and well-being.
As a result, they may be held indefinitely as well as subjected to months of abusive, inhumane and degrading interrogations and treatment, then detained without charge or tried in military courts, denying due process and judicial fairness.
In confinement, Israel willfully and systematically violates international humanitarian law, including Geneva's Common Article 3, requiring:
"humane treatment for all persons in enemy hands, specifically prohibit(ing) murder, mutilation, torture, cruel, humiliating and degrading treatment (and) unfair trial(s)."
Fourth Geneva's Article 4 calls "protected persons" those held by parties to a conflict or occupation "of which they are not nationals." They must "be treated with humanity and, in case of trial, shall not be deprived of the rights of fair and regular trial prescribed by the present Convention." They're entitled to full Fourth Geneva rights. Prisoners of war under Third Geneva have the same rights and those under Common Article 3.
Israel willfully denies them. Under the 1971 Israeli Prison Ordinance, no provision defines prisoner rights. It only provides binding rules for the Interior Minister who can interpret them freely by administrative decree. For example, it's legal to intern 20 inmates in a cell as small as five meters long, four meters wide and three meters high, including an open lavatory, and they can be confined up to 23 hours daily. As a result, they're subjected to horrific conditions, 69 including:
-- severe overcrowding;
-- poor ventilation and sanitation;
-- no change of clothes or adequate clothing;
-- sleeping on wooden planks with thin mattresses, some infested with vermin; blankets are often torn, filthy and inadequate; hot water is rare and soap is rationed;
-- at the Negev Ketziot military detention camp, threadbare tents are used, exposing detainees to extreme weather conditions; in summer, vermin, insects, scorpions, parasites, rats, and other reptiles are a major problem;
-- Megiddo and Ofer also use tents; in addition, Ofer uses oil-soiled hangers;
-- for some, isolation in tiny, poorly ventilated solitary confinement with no visitation rights or contact with counsel or other prisoners;
-- no access to personal cleanliness and hygiene; toilet facilities are restricted, forcing prisoners to urinate in bottles in their cells;
-- inadequate food in terms of quality, quantity, and dietary requirements;
-- poor medical care, including lack of specialized personnel, mental health treatment, and denial of needed medicines and equipment; as a result, many suffer ill health; doctors are also pressured to deny proper treatment, some later admitting it;
-- extreme psychological pressure to break detainees' will;
-- widespread use of torture, abuse, cruel and degrading treatment;
-- women and children are treated like men;
-- NGOs like Physicians for Human Rights - Israel and the ICRC are deterred from aiding detainees;
-- denied or hindered access to family members and counsel; and
-- enforced conditions subordinating visits to national security priorities, requiring prisoners not be security risks, that persons applying for visits not have a security record, and whatever other stipulations Israel imposes.
PCHR noted special concern for about 700 detained Gazans, denied visits, phone calls, mail or other communications with family members for nearly four years with rare (usually one-time only) exceptions allowed. This outrageous prohibition, "exacerbates the already difficult conditions of confinement and constitutes a violation of international human rights law." PCHR commemorated Palestinian Prisoners Day by releasing nine poignant narratives, including "The Mother of a Minor in Prison - Amal Abdul-Allah."
For many years, she endured enormous hardships. Her father was incarcerated for 17 years. Her husband was arrested and released in 1983. Her brother and nephew were also imprisoned, and in February 2009, Israeli her third-oldest son, Oudai.
"He was arrested on his way to Ramallah, at Beit Iba checkpoint near Nablus. We 70 realized that he must have been arrested when he did not come home to sleep that night. He had been arrested in the morning and forced to spend the entire day and night at the checkpoint. He had to lie on the ground the entire time, until they took him to Megiddo prison the next day."
Family members weren't told of his whereabouts. The ICRC got spotty information. For several months, he was repeatedly transfered to new prisons. With one exception, Amal and other family members were totally denied visitation rights for "security reasons."
Family members occasionally get information from released prisoners, Amal learning that Oudai was healthy but emotionally exhausted, depressed, always crying, and wanted to go home.
Amal told PCHR:
"I am emotionally in pain because I haven't seen him in so long. The whole situation is very hard. I can't bear it. Also, when I saw him for the first time in court, it was very hard for me, especially since I hadn't seen him for (months). I could not stop crying, but I was afraid for him and I tried to hold myself together as much as possible. For now, what hurts me most is that I am not allowed to visit him."
Moreover, Oudai, like most other child or adult prisoners, is held on spurious charges, assuring months or many years of injustice and harsh treatment. Unlike detained Jews given due process in civil courts, Palestinians get none under occupation. Nor do Israeli Arabs for their faith and ethnicity in a Jewish state.
Final Comment
On April 17, the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) said about 1,000 Hebron protesters marked the day by rallying for release of Palestinian prisoners. "At the same time, thousands of prisoners joined a one-day hunger strike," protesting their treatment and legal rights.
Protesters included family members, local authorities, and international activists. According to former political prisoner Abdul Nasser Farwana's new report, virtually every Palestinian household has had members jailed. It explains that most of those detained are unrelated to alleged security issues; that torture is freely used to extract confessions; that no consideration is given women, children and those ill; and that overall treatment violates fundamental international law.
On April 17 and throughout the year, remember how abusively Israel treats Arabs for their faith and ethnicity, and that conduct this reprehensible no longer can be tolerated.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at [email protected]. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.
PA Prison Report- Monday April 25, 2011- Special Unity and Courage edition
April 22, 2011 Human Rights Coalition
71 Special Unity and Courage edition
Today the Human Rights Coalition released a report detailing the findings of a year-long investigation into human rights abuses in the solitary confinement unit at SCI Huntingdon state prison in Huntingdon, PA. The report, entitled Unity and Courage, outlines the underlying conditions of abuse and torture within Pennsylvania's isolation units that have led to widespread acts of resistance by prisoners, and describes the efforts of one group of men confined in Huntingdon's Restricted Housing Unit to oppose and bring public attention to constant depredations by guards as well as the willful indifference of prison administrators.
A Culture of Terror
Unity and Courage draws upon more than a thousand pages of letters, prison documents and legal paperwork, and conversations with prisoners' family members. The report depicts a culture of terror fostered by prison guards, who enforce a rule of absolute power through threats and use of force, along with deprivations of basic necessities such as food, water, hygienic items and cleaning supplies, clothing, and bedding. This campaign of brutality is undertaken with the tacit consent and encouragement of prison administrators and top officials of the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, who have adopted an informal though strictly enforced policy of turning a blind eye to reports of torture and abuse.
Within this structure of officially sanctioned fear and punishment, solitary confinement units such as Huntingdon's Restricted Housing Unit are one of the most cruel and extreme measures used by prison staff to silence and intimidate prisoners who show too keen an interest in insist on standing up for their human rights.
Fear Tactics
Among the methods employed by prison staff to assert dominance over prisoners is the use of violence as a standard technique for enforcing obedience, as well as the threat of indefinite solitary confinement for any prisoner who dares to challenge abuses of authority on the part of prison staff.
These and other elements are present in the case study of Vincent Hallman detailed in Unity and Courage, who in January 2010 was abruptly sentenced to isolation after a guard instigated a violent confrontation over a perceived challenge to his authority. Hallman's subsequent targeting for retaliation and virtually permanent placement in solitary confinement provides an example of a common cycle of abuse, protest, and retaliation that exists throughout the PA DOC.
Upon being placed in solitary, Hallman was confined in a cell without heat or bedding in the middle of winter, and was deprived of food and denied medical attention for his injuries. Nearby solitary confinement prisoners who spoke out regarding Hallman's mistreatment were sentenced to further time in isolation, had their sheets, blankets, and towels confiscated, and were stripped of the one hour a day they were allowed outside of their cramped cells to exercise. One prisoner who witnessed guards physically abusing Hallman was told by a guard to "keep your mouth shut, the same thing can happen to you. You're going to die in this hole anyway so you're the least of my concerns."
Acts of Resistance 72 A key focus of Unity and Courage is the events surrounding a series of non-violent protests organized by solitary confinement prisoners in late September 2010, and subsequent retaliatory attacks by guards.
The initial protest occurred on September 29, 2010, when eight prisoners refused to return to their cells from the exercise cages where they are provided one hour outside of their cells five days a week. Anthony Allen, Theodore Byard, Vincent Hallman, Rhonshawn Jackson, Kyle Klein, Eric Mackie, Gary Wallace, and Jeremiah Weems staged a "peaceful demonstration" in protest of the "abuse, racism, retaliation and witness intimidation" they were being subjected to.
On the 29th, rather than returning to their cells, prisoners refused to leave the exercise yard and peacefully requested to speak to prison authorities. This was met with stiff opposition from guards, who refused to address grievances or permit prisoners to speak with higher officials in Huntingdon's administration. This response had been anticipated by the protesters, who in fact sought to "compel the staff to (follow DOC policy and) bring a video camera so that we can document the starvation, water deprivation, threats of murder and beatings, and racial slurs, and have central office informed."
The prison responded with violence. Writes Gary Wallace, "We were all sprayed with a chemical agent and forcibly removed from the exercise yard. We were then brought into our cells with the spray all over our skin which continues to burn until it is properly washed away. Approximately four hours later I was burning so bad and my breathing was so hampered that I had to cover my cell door to force a cell removal so that I could receive medical attention. I was again sprayed with (pepper spray)." Other protesters received similar treatment at the hands of guards, and over the next several days they experienced further cell extractions and attacks by guards armed with pepper spray.
The next month saw two more group protests on October 15 and 18th, in which prisoners again came together to demand an end to abusive conditions in the unit. In all, prisoners reported that fourteen men in the solitary confinement unit at SCI Huntingdon were subjected to attacks with pepper spray and cell extracted over the course of one month. Despite the absolute refusal of prison administrators to meet with the protesters or address their grievances, many of the men who took part later described their actions as both necessary and worthwhile. Writes Kyle Klein, "Their goal is to stop us from speaking out against them, but it will never work, not a chance in hell, or the hell we are in. Even when winning is impossible, quitting is far from optional."
The Way Forward
Unity and Courage outlines several ways that different sectors of society can take part in exposing and bringing an end to torture and human rights violations in Pennsylvania prisons, including the investigation and prosecution of abusive prison staff by law enforcement agencies, increased assistance from the legal community, the creation by the PA state legislature of an independent commission to investigate abuse, and continued organizing by prisoners and their family members.
Copies of Unity and Courage were sent last week to PA Department of Corrections administration and members of state and federal law enforcement agencies. A complete listing of these public officials, along with contact information, can be found online on HRC's website, www.hrcoalition.org. HRC is calling upon the general public to contact officials on the list, ask their position regarding the human rights violations described in Unity and Courage, and demand that they adopt recommendations made in the report. 73 * * *
We end this special edition of the PA Prison Report with the words of Huntingdon solitary confinement protester Gary Wallace: "The men participating in this struggle are simply individuals who have been suffering for an extended period of time and have collectively decided 'something must be done'. (We) are all doing what every person on this planet has an obligation to do when you are maliciously being deprived of food and drinking water, showers, exercise, being threatened with physical harm and belittled and dehumanized simply because you are placed under the authority of another group of individuals. What should move advocates to want to intervene is that we collectively understand the most important concept of these times, which is that before one is deserving of a great reward, one must first be willing to offer and endure an even greater sacrifice."
Announcements
Philly area: Wednesdays are Write On! Prison Letter Writing Night at the LAVA space at 4134 Lancaster, 6-9pm. Come help us stay connected with the many prisoners who write to us with news from inside, learn to document crimes committed by prison staff, and help bring an end to the abuse and torture of our brothers and sisters behind bars.
If you'd like to know more about the Human Rights Coalition or would like to get involved, call us at 215-921-3491, email [email protected], or visit our website at http://www.hrcoalition.org./
Pittsburgh area: Write On! – letter writing to prisoners and HRC work night every Wednesday at 5129 Penn Avenue from 7 -10pm. To get involved with HRC/Fed Up! in Pittsburgh,email [email protected] or call 412-654-9070.
You've been listening to the Human Rights Coalition's PA Prison Report, Special Unity and Courage edition.
Keep up the fight!
74
My Student, the 'Terrorist'
April 3, 2011 The Chronicle Review
Syed Fahad Hashmi
By Jeanne Theoharis
75 Pale and gaunt, he stood there, having endured three years of pretrial solitary confinement. "Alhamdullilah," he said.
Yes. He had allowed an acquaintance to stay with him in his student apartment in London—an acquaintance who had raincoats, ponchos, and waterproof socks in his luggage, which the acquaintance later delivered to Al Qaeda.
One day before his case was set to go to trial, nearly four years after he had been arrested, Syed Fahad Hashmi, a U.S. citizen, accepted a government plea bargain on one count of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorism.
Eight years earlier, Fahad and I had sat across from each other in my office. A student in my civil- rights seminar, he had come in to discuss his final research paper. Months after the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, he wanted to examine the denial of civil rights and constitutional protections that Muslim groups across the political spectrum were facing in the United States.
A devout Muslim and outspoken political activist, Fahad had been a lively and overly talkative participant in class discussion. Relishing debate, he had not shied away from disagreement. I often saw him in the halls before and after class deliberating with other students, discussing the issues of the day or denouncing U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East and the treatment of Muslims in America. He seemed to prefer to talk to those who did not share his political views, and to possess the overly optimistic belief that with a good argument, he could win others over. He would sometimes tire me out by his indefatigable talking, and on occasion, by leaving materials in my mailbox about converting to Islam. His utopia was a state ruled by religious law, and he held beliefs that I certainly did not share about global politics and the ascendancy of Islam.
Still, Fahad—or Syed, as I called him then—was a thoughtful student, and I admired his spunk and stubborn willingness to question authority. I found out later that because all the men in his family had Syed as a first name, he was known to friends and family as Fahad. But like many other students at Brooklyn College, he was too respectful to correct me.
The government specifies our duty as citizens: to watch for suspicious activity and individuals. Implicitly we are told to see danger in people with beards and head scarves.
76 Matt Rourke, AP Photo
The government specifies our duty as citizens: to watch for suspicious activity and individuals. Implicitly we are told to see danger in people with beards and head scarves.
Muslim Justice Initiative
Despite some presence by Hashmi’s family, friends, and Muslim student groups, the major civil- liberties organizations have remained silent about his treatment behind bars.
Muslim Justice Initiative
Despite some presence by Hashmi’s family, friends, and Muslim student groups, the major civil- liberties organizations have remained silent about his treatment behind bars.
His final paper contended that in contradiction to the Bill of Rights, the civil liberties of Muslim- American groups were being violated in the aftermath of September 11. It began with the American philosopher Randolph Bourne's claim that in times of war, dissent becomes seditious: "Minority opinion, which in times of peace, was only irritating and could not be dealt with by law unless it was conjoined with actual crime, becomes, with the outbreak of war, a case for outlawry."
That summer, Fahad e-mailed me for advice. He wanted to know how to become a professor. The next semester he came to my office. He was applying to master's-degree programs in England. Would I write him a recommendation? Yes, I said, that makes sense. In 2003, there was a much more developed intellectual conversation among British academics on the role of Islam in global politics than there was in the United States. I'd be happy to write a letter. He got up to leave. Almost at the door, he opened his backpack and nervously turned to face me.
Out he fished a package of chocolates. Old World in his manners, Fahad had very likely decided he could not come empty-handed to make a request. He handed them to me. No, no, that's not necessary, I said. This is my job. Thank you, he said, and stubbornly insisted on giving me the chocolates.
77 I wrote the recommendation and sent him on his way. Three years later, a colleague told me she'd just seen a news story—our former student Syed Hashmi had been arrested in Britain on some sort of terrorism charge. We were instructed by the college not to say anything to the news media. In the silence lurked fear of association. Galled by the prohibitions, I nevertheless put the arrest out of my mind.
More than a year later, another colleague e-mailed to ask what I knew of Syed's case. The question sat in my head. Poking around on the Web, I found sensational stories about the arrest of a homegrown terrorist from Queens—a fearsome picture of military gear in the hands of Al Qaeda, reams of cash headed toward the insurgency in Afghanistan.
After a couple of weeks, the case was still bothering me. Fahad had been a zealous political activist. As a scholar of African-American history, I knew that people with radical politics often became targets of government surveillance, that threats to national security were not always what they were purported to be. I found myself going back to that history as I tried to understand what was happening.
The articles on Fahad's arrest listed the name of his lawyer. I cold-called him, and he asked to meet. Sean Maher talked to me that afternoon about SAMs, CIPA, and "material support"—a hodgepodge of acronyms and confusing legal terms, even for a professor of political science who imagined herself well informed. Maher, a former public defender, had represented people accused of murder, rape, drug trafficking, and gang conspiracy. Never had he seen anything like the jail conditions and rights violations Fahad was being subjected to.
Worried at how isolated Fahad's family might feel, and learning that they were still living in Queens, I sent his parents a card. A few days later, Fahad's father called. Syed Anwar Hashmi was distraught. The family had left Pakistan when Fahad was 3. Mr. Hashmi had worked for the City of New York as an accountant for more than two decades. He did not understand how his son could be treated in this way in a country that he had sacrificed to come to and be part of. He started to cry. He believed in the law. But there were supposed to be fair trials, a set of rights, public evidence, and no torture. Where was the Constitution now?
In the years since September 11, stories announcing the apprehension of new terrorism suspects have filled the national news. They follow the same form: relief mixed with jubilation that law enforcement is keeping our homeland safe. Despite the banner headlines, the actual nature of these cases receives limited public scrutiny. We hear little of the government's evidence or of the treatment of suspects within the federal system. We have come to accept, almost reflexively, that while there have been abuses in places overseas—Guantánamo, Bagram, secret CIA prisons—the rule of law is intact at home. Captivated by a post-civil-rights frame of the U.S. judicial system as relatively incorruptible, we have missed the broader devolution of rights in the federal system and the ways our terrorism policies follow from a larger history of policing dissent and difference.
This, then, is the story of Guantánamo at home, of the treatment of terrorism suspects in the federal courts, the civil-rights violations happening within the United States, and the legal and political culture that allows them. I have been lecturing and writing about this case for more than three years, and what strikes me, as someone who studies civil rights, is how little we in America seem to learn from our own history.
78 On June 6, 2006, preparing to board a plane to Pakistan, Syed Fahad Hashmi was arrested at Heathrow Airport on a U.S. warrant. He had been living in London, completing his master's degree in international relations at London Metropolitan University. The arrest of Fahad, who was charged by the United States with two counts of providing and conspiring to provide material support and two counts of making and conspiring to make a contribution of goods or services to Al Qaeda, commanded the top of the nightly news that June evening. "Terror trail" and "web of terror" flashed as Brian Williams began his nightly broadcast. New York Police Chief Raymond Kelly crowed, "This arrest reinforces the fact that a terrorist may have roots in Queens and still betray us." As in many terrorism indictments, the news media maintained little distance from the government's story.
For 11 months, Fahad fought his extradition, fearing the treatment he would face in American courts. In May 2007, he became the first U.S. citizen extradited under laws passed after September 11 that relaxed standards for the process. While the British government did not ask for assurances of fair treatment for Fahad, it did require the United States to give a cursory account of the basis of the case.
The "centerpiece" of that case was the testimony of a cooperating witness, Mohammed Junaid Babar. In the beginning of 2004, Babar, an acquaintance of Hashmi's from New York, asked to stay with him at his London apartment for two weeks. According to the government, the acquaintance had luggage with him, which he, the acquaintance, later delivered to the third-ranking member of Al Qaeda in South Waziristan, in Pakistan. In addition, Hashmi allegedly allowed Babar to use his cellphone to call conspirators in terrorist plots.
"If we are engaged in a war against terror—and we most certainly are," FBI Assistant Director Mark J. Mershon publicly claimed, "then Syed Hashmi aided the enemy by supplying military gear to Al Qaeda." The government had caught a "quartermaster." Despite the sensationalism, the government had been forced to admit it was not actually accusing Hashmi of supplying military gear himself; "quartermastering" consisted of allowing an acquaintance with luggage to stay in his apartment. "Military gear" in the luggage amounted to raincoats, ponchos, and waterproof socks.
Babar himself had been arrested in 2004 on five charges of material support. He quickly cooperated with government authorities, who interviewed him in a midtown hotel, and he agreed to serve as a government witness in a number of terrorism cases in exchange for a reduced sentence. Out on bail since 2008, Babar would provide his last testimony at Fahad's trial.
Flown back to New York, Fahad Hashmi was placed in solitary confinement at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in lower Manhattan, 13 miles from where he had grown up in Flushing. In front of a courtroom filled with family and friends, Judge Loretta A. Preska denied him bail. Although he was a citizen with no criminal record, she said that he did not respect U.S. laws or have significant ties to family and community to prevent him from fleeing.
In the first months of detention, family members could visit him together and talk about their visits with friends and family. Fahad had a radio and could receive and read newspapers and magazines. He could shower outside of the view of the camera. His lawyer could talk freely with him and with others.
Five months later, that changed. Fahad was put under Special Administrative Measures, or SAMs, which restrict a prisoner's contact with the outside world.
79 The federal government established SAMs in 1996 for gang leaders and other crime bosses with demonstrated reach in cases of "substantial risk that an inmate's communication or contacts with persons could result in death or serious bodily injury to persons." After September 11, the Justice Department began using SAMs pretrial, with wide latitude to wall off terrorism suspects before they had been convicted of anything.
Fahad was allowed no contact with anyone outside his lawyer and, in very limited fashion, his parents—no calls, letters, or talking through the walls, because his cell was electronically monitored. He had to shower and relieve himself within view of the camera. He was allowed to write only one letter a week to a single member of his family, using no more than three pieces of paper. One parent was allowed to visit every two weeks, but often would be turned away at the door for bureaucratic reasons. Fahad was forbidden any contact—directly or through his lawyers—with the news media. He could read only portions of newspapers approved by his jailers—and not until 30 days after publication. Allowed only one hour out of his cell a day, he had no access to fresh air but was forced to exercise in a solitary cage.
The government cited Hashmi's "proclivity for violence" as the reason for such harsh measures—even though he had no criminal record and was not charged with committing an actual act of violence or having any demonstrated reach outside of prison. Given the number of people convicted of a violent crime behind bars in the United States, "proclivity for violence" seemed an implausible justification for the harsh measures.
While challenging his extradition, Hashmi had been housed at Britain's notorious Belmarsh prison, where he talked, prayed, and exercised with other prisoners. No complaint was ever made about his behavior there. (The British never charged him with any support to terrorism.) Similarly, there had been no complaint about his behavior in his first five months at the correctional center.
But he was not cooperating with American authorities. The U.S. attorney had made it clear that this could all go away if he would. As Fahad explained at his sentencing three years later, "And in all reality, I had nothing to cooperate about." Much like other forms of torture, his treatment was a coercive punishment for not doing what the government wanted.
Special Administrative Measures come directly from the attorney general. Used pretrial, they seem to be reserved for Muslim defendants. On May 31, 2009, as Hashmi sat in isolation, Scott Roeder, a Christian militant, walked into a Wichita church and shot and killed an abortion doctor—an act of premeditated murder. Some anti-abortion activists celebrated and wrote to Roeder in jail. Some even came to visit. Roeder was not put under SAMs. Meanwhile, Fahad received his first punishment, for "unauthorized gestures" and insubordination, after he practiced martial arts in his cell. He lost his limited family visits for three months.
On January 23, 2009, the day after President Obama signed an executive order prohibiting torture and ordering the prison at Guantánamo closed, Fahad's defense challenged his SAMs for the second time, citing extensive scholarly and medical evidence that long-term solitary confinement and sensory deprivation damage a person's mental and physical health. Citing the martial-arts incident and continuing threat to national security, the judge rejected the argument, and over the next three years, 30 more appeals. Attorney General Eric Holder renewed Fahad's SAMs in October 2009.
80 The use of torture and other human-rights violations in America's war on terrorism has been framed as a problem occurring largely outside our shores. Our public conversation blames a set of bad guys—the "torture lawyers" John Yoo and Jay Bybee and their patrons, President Bush and Vice President Cheney—who twisted the law to allow "enhanced interrogation" in secret and offshore locations.
But enhanced-interrogation techniques are only one facet of the human-rights devolution in the aftermath of September 11. In a campaign against terrorism that requires evidence of the effectiveness of law enforcement, a record of conviction is paramount. Prosecuting alleged terrorists has significant cachet for politically aspiring U.S. attorneys, not to mention financial imperatives as various government agencies compete for money made available to fight terrorism. Under the cover of law, U.S. attorneys use prolonged solitary confinement and sensory deprivation to help produce convictions. As John McCain, a former POW, wrote, such treatment "crushes the spirit."
The use of prolonged solitary confinement is increasingly out of step with world opinion and practice, and is deemed torture by international standards. On July 8, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights kept in place an injunction barring the extradition of four terrorism suspects to the United States, based on the inhumane conditions in so-called Supermax prisons, including the use of postconviction SAMs. Evidence of Hashmi's pretrial treatment formed part of the background for the decision.
Censure is more difficult within the United States. In a particularly troubling twist, detailed criticism of SAMs, in itself, becomes illegal. Everyone in direct contact with a person under SAMs is bound by the SAMs and not allowed to talk about any conversation with the detainee, thus making it illegal to speak out against the precise damage of these measures.
Fahad's treatment was not a historical aberration. State interests of national security have repeatedly trumped civil liberties. Shadowy "un-American" enemies have long borne the brunt of scrutiny and repression. And periods of public regret have often followed.
In 1942, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, allowing the internment of more than 110,000 Japanese and Japanese-Americans (more than two-thirds of whom were American citizens). Upheld as constitutional in a series of Supreme Court cases on the grounds of national security, internment hardly raised an eyebrow with journalists during World War II. Those who objected were pilloried, with the complicity of many civil libertarians and the silence of many Americans. When a group of 63 Japanese-American men at Heart Mountain Relocation Camp protested internment by refusing to be drafted or swear unconditional loyalty to the United States, they were jailed. The Japanese American Citizens League supported the government, and the American Civil Liberties Union refused to provide legal assistance, claiming the draft resisters had no legal case. They received three years in prison and were ostracized for years.
The United States, however, quickly distanced itself from its history of internment. By the 1950s, a new internal enemy had emerged. In a cold war with the Soviet Union, Americans feared that Communists were infiltrating American institutions. Political activists and Communist sympathizers summoned before the House Un-American Activities Committee in the 1950s were often pushed to name names. In many cases, the government knew whom they knew—and, in a number, that those summoned had no crucial information. The point was to quiet dissident voices.
81 Civil-rights activists—variously including Martin Luther King Jr., the American Indian Movement, and the Black Panther Party—soon became prime targets. That was not simply because of the actions of a renegade FBI director. Attorney General Robert Kennedy himself signed off on the bugging of King in 1963. Of Americans surveyed by Gallup in the days before the 1963 March on Washington, almost half of those who had heard about the protest viewed it unfavorably. When the FBI began handing over salacious information on King to journalists, no reporter blew the whistle.
Beginning in the late 1960s, the United States again disavowed such tactics. In 1967 the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed that citizens had the right to associate with and be members of dissenting groups like the Communist Party, as long as they engaged in no criminal act.
By the 1990s, with the end of the cold war, and following the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, Islamic fundamentalism became the new lurking enemy. The subversion of liberties in what came to be known as the "war on terror" married old practices to new tactics. Political association could now be criminalized through the fearsome-sounding material-support bans instituted under President Clinton (and later expanded under the Patriot Act). The federal government would sponsor bold public indictments but avoid public show trials—the evidence and proceedings largely kept hidden. There would be no mass-based internment, but a broad swath of interrogations and prosecutions aimed at those deemed disloyal. And the politics of fear and patriotic loyalty would keep journalists and many civil-rights organizations silent.
Fahad's due-process rights fell victim to the 1980 Classified Information Procedures Act, which allows evidence to be kept classified. Its use has drastically expanded post-9/11. As a citizen in federal court, Fahad faced evidence he was not allowed to review. Fahad's lawyers went through intensive security clearances to view it—but were not allowed to discuss it with him.
Under material-support bans, all sorts of constitutionally protected activities can be classified as suspect, if not criminal. Material-support charges require no criminal act nor direct contact with terrorists, just the knowing "support" of a foreign terrorist organization. They often focus on small acts and religious and political associations, which take on sinister meaning as ostensible manifestations of forthcoming terrorism.
So-called "jihadist" ideas and membership in radical Islamic political groups thus become indications of "support," rather than constitutionally protected speech and association. While a student, Fahad had drawn the attention of authorities as a member of the New York political group Al Muhajiroun. (Despite its troubled history in England, the group has not been designated a terrorist organization by the United States, nor has membership in the organization been deemed illegal here.) An activist, Fahad had demonstrated outside various embassies protesting the situation of Muslims in Kashmir, Chechnya, and Palestine, and what he saw as U.S. complicity in Muslim oppression. He drew the attention of Time magazine and CNN for comments he made at a student meeting at Brooklyn College praising John Walker Lindh, and calling America "the biggest terrorist in the world." In the year before the Second Gulf War, speaking at Muslim student associations across the New York area, he claimed that the United States had greater aspirations in the Middle East and was preparing to go to war against Iraq. Though well outside mainstream political opinion, his activities should have fallen squarely within the protections of the U.S. Constitution.
The theory of preventive prosecution behind many material-support cases rests on identifying dangerous characteristics that portend forthcoming terrorism. In 2007, the New York Police 82 Department published a report on homegrown terrorism, citing Fahad as one of the examples and listing indications of a person's possible growing radicalization. Those included: giving up cigarettes, drinking, gambling, and urban hip-hop gangster clothes; wearing traditional Islamic clothing; growing a beard; and becoming involved in social activism and community issues.
The government had no evidence it was prepared to introduce in court outside of Babar's word that Babar had access to or delivered anything to Al Qaeda. Key to its case, then, were Fahad's controversial political beliefs. The government was prepared to introduce tapes of his political activities at trial, tapes that indicated considerable surveillance of his activism as a college student, years before Babar's visit to his apartment. Despite objections from the defense citing Fahad's First Amendment rights, the judge ruled that the tapes were relevant to understanding his state of mind and "background to the conspiracy."
The seminar paper Fahad had written on civil-liberties violations was no longer academic. Stunned by the rights abuses happening but a few miles away, two colleagues who had also had him as a student and I circulated a Statement of Concern calling attention to "the conditions of his detention, constraints on his right to a fair trial, and the potential threat his case poses to the First Amendment rights of others." Over the coming months, more than 550 scholars and writers signed the statement, which we sent to Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey and the U.S. attorney for the Southern District—and dozens of journalists and local officials.
With the exception of The Chronicle and The Village Voice's longtime civil libertarian Nat Hentoff, no journalists widely reported Fahad's treatment. Despite the determined work of Fahad's family, friends, and some Muslim student groups, the major civil-liberties organizations also remained silent. Working hard to get terrorism suspects out of Guantánamo into the federal system, they did not feel they could turn around and highlight how unfair the federal system was. The attorney general's office responded in a letter reminding us that, under SAMs, we could not contact him, but promising that any concerns Mr. Hashmi had would be dealt with in a "timely" fashion.
In the winter of 2009, we sent the statement to President Obama and Attorney General Holder. The only answer we received from a constitutional-scholar-turned-president came addressed to "Ms. Jeanne Theoharis and Friends," thanking us for "taking the time to share your views." For the next 15 months, the Obama administration made no changes in Fahad's conditions, in its commitment to secret evidence, and in its use of political activities as evidence of criminal intent.
The years of pretrial detention took their toll on Fahad's family, still living in Flushing. Fahad's father, exhausted by fear, took early retirement. His older brother, Faisal, who had two children during the years of Fahad's pretrial detention, told me how difficult it was to enjoy them while his brother sat a few miles away in isolation. He brought his son and daughter with him to pretrial hearings, so Fahad could get a glimpse of them.
Faisal had studied business and possessed a voluminous knowledge about movies; he had never understood how Fahad intended to make money with a degree in political science. Now, out of necessity, Faisal grew into an able political speaker and prodigious legal mind. Together with friends and supporters, he helped start a group called the Muslim Justice Initiative, to provide support for Muslim families and communities in the United States facing legal problems in the post-9/11 political climate. The need for such a group was increasingly urgent.
83 We attended Fahad's pretrial hearings, watching him grow thinner, less focused, and more jittery. I corresponded with more journalists, but no one seemed to have the right beat to write about the case— a "metro story" to be covered at trial, according to The New York Times.
To begin to break the silence, I wrote an article for The Nation. A movement of New Yorkers began to grow. Outraged that this inhumanity was occurring in lower Manhattan, people sought to bear witness. And so, in October 2009, Theaters Against War, together with Educators for Civil Liberties and the Muslim Justice Initiative, began holding weekly protest vigils outside Fahad's prison. In the rain and the cold, the Broadway actors Wallace Shawn, Bill Irwin, and Kathleen Chalfant performed. The opera singer Christine Moore and the folk singer Dar Williams sang. Muslim students, playwrights, clergy, professors, law students, antiwar grannies, mothers with children, high-school students, prison- rights activists, and Fahad's own extended family gathered outside the prison week after week for seven months, in the darkness of winter and the light of spring.
Progressive and international news media began to take an interest. The Center for Constitutional Rights, Amnesty International USA, and the Council on American Islamic Relations-NY put out an open statement raising concerns about Fahad's conditions.
If this were a movie, the story might end with a triumphal courtroom scene, or an intrepid Washington Post reporter breaking the story. It might have a sentimental ending, with a conservative Muslim family and community locking arms with Christians and Jews and atheists and turning the country back to its commitment to civil rights. The government, shamed, would reform its practices.
But this is not a movie, and inhumane treatment is well protected in post-9/11 America.
The organizing campaign 500@500 called on people to attend Fahad's trial at the federal district courthouse. That alarmed the government, which filed a motion citing public interest in the case as questionable and dangerous. A 500@500 poster became the government's Exhibit A. The U.S. attorney explained that "jurors will see in the gallery of the courtroom a significant number of the defendant's supporters, naturally leading to juror speculation that at least some of these spectators might share the defendant's violent radical Islamic leanings." Prosecutors asked for jurors to be granted anonymity and requested extra security for them. Promoting guilt by implication, such measures would have signaled to the jury that Fahad was dangerous before he stepped into the courtroom. Demonizing observers, the government legitimized the idea that jurors should view them with suspicion. Once again, the judge granted the government's motion.
One day later, on April 27, Fahad agreed to a plea bargain of one count of conspiring to provide material support. He made the decision after not seeing anyone but his lawyers in more than five months, not having access to the religious support of an imam, and after nearly three years of solitary confinement.
A day before trial, the government dropped the other three charges. That it did so suggests that it had applied draconian pretrial measures, not because it considered Fahad a high-level terrorist, but to induce his cooperation or conviction.
Six weeks later, Judge Preska sentenced him to 15 years in prison. At the sentencing, it became clear that Fahad posed a threat not only because of luggage brought to his apartment, but because of his ideology. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brendan McGuire called it "an ideology of violence and 84 intolerance," noting that "not every person who supports Al Qaeda is going to pull a trigger or throw a bomb or launch an attack." Citing Fahad's "anti-American jihadist ideology," the judge echoed that McCarthyesque logic of deterrence.
At the hearing, Fahad made his first public statement in four years. With numerous references to the Qur'an, he spoke extremely hurriedly. When the judge asked him to slow down, he apologized, saying he had not spoken much in the past years. And then he started to cry.
Fahad thanked the people, both Muslims and non-Muslims, who had opposed the injustices in his case. "To the non-Muslims, above all, some of my former professors," he said: "I hope, Insha'Allah, that Allah gives me the opportunity to me to repay you your kindness." He expressed hope "that the bridges of dialogue and debate that were built around this case remain so." He apologized to his family for the pain he had caused them and took responsibility for his associations with Babar. He spoke of the "noble mujahedin" and, with allusions to Moses and the Pharaoh, criticized the government's inhumane treatment of Muslim prisoners, including his "brothers" at Guantánamo.
In August, Fahad was transferred to the federal high-security prison in Florence, Colo., and in March moved into its Supermax ADX facility, the most draconian prison in the federal system, criticized by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch for its inhumane conditions. He remains in solitary confinement, still under SAMs, which was renewed again by Attorney General Holder in October.
Meanwhile, in December, Babar was sentenced to "time served" (four and a half years out of a possible 70). The judge cited his "exceptional" service and noted that he "began co-operating even before his arrest"—raising questions internationally as to whether he had worked for the American government before his apprehension.
Anyone who sits on the subway in New York knows the poster. "If you see something, say something." Our duty is laid out: to look out constantly for suspicious activity and individuals. Implicitly we are told to see danger in the eyes and backpacks of people with beards and head scarves, to identify threat in those who give up drinking or observe terrorism trials. There is a lovely complexity to the young man who e-mails his female professor about what her job is like and calls the United States "the biggest terrorist in the world," who brings chocolates to say thank you and decries secularism. But seeing that humanity is at odds with the political zeitgeist, where endless searches and small bottles of shampoo and fear-mongering subway posters have become the currency of national security. Where a growing obsession with homegrown terrorism means that we are again willing to chisel away the Bill of Rights in the name of protecting America.
Over the past three years, I have done many interviews about Fahad's case. Journalists ask, How do you know he is innocent? Rights do not require known innocence, I point out. What do you say after the plea? To one who teaches about civil rights, I explain, it is humbling to see those rights shredded a few miles from my classroom. Among the hardest things to teach as a historian are the outsized fears, political motivations, and economic interests that rendered good people silent in the face of government repression, civil-rights violations, internment, and redbaiting.
We have freedom of speech and build bridges of dialogue and debate, I teach my students, and what makes that hard is that we have to hear things we do not like and be confronted with truths and opinions far removed from our own.
85 But those lessons are not upheld in our public culture, which has drawn arbitrary, silencing constrictions around the speech and association of Muslim-Americans. While Christian and Jewish political dissents regularly enter American public debate (militant Christian anti-abortion rhetoric, for instance, may be censured but is not criminalized), Islamic political dissent condemning U.S. practices becomes "subject to ferocious penalties," as Randolph Bourne decried long ago, and Fahad had quoted in his paper.
"If you see something, say something." Our duty, I believe, is different—to see in a terrorism suspect a person deserving of rights and humane treatment; to speak out against torture when it happens in a New York jail, not just when it occurs overseas; to insist that the Bill of Rights applies to all defendants all of the time. To take responsibility for the ways each of us has become complicit in the civil-rights violations of our era.
Jeanne Theoharis is a professor of political science at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York and co-founder of the group Educators for Civil Liberties.
Call to a Season of Prayer for Oscar Lopez Rivera - starting April 29th
INTERFAITH PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE PROJECT Cleveland, Ohio ľ [email protected]
CALL TO A SEASON OF PRAYER FOR OSCAR LÓPEZ RIVERA
The National Boricua Human Rights Network, the Interfaith Prisoners of Conscience Project, and the Comité Pro-Derechos Humanos (Human Rights Committee) of Puerto Rico join in initiating this Call to a Season of Prayer, which is also co-sponsored by La Capilla del Barrio, the Council for Hispanic Ministries of the Reformed Church in America, Denison Avenue United Church of Christ, and the Puerto Rican Alliance Los Angeles.*
On May 29, 2011, Puerto Rican political prisoner Oscar López Rivera will have served 30 years in prison. He is one of the longest-held political prisoners in the history of the Americas. Dozens of prominent leaders, celebrities, elected officials, religious denominations, unions, political organizations, and thousands of citizens from across the religious and political spectrum, have expressed their support for his release.
We enthusiastically support the ongoing work to obtain his release through letters, phone calls, resolutions, proclamations, protests, marches, artistic exhibitions, and cultural events. But we see this work as a fundamentally spiritual endeavor. We believe that the moral arc of the universe really does bend towards justice and freedom, that it is simply time for him to come home, and that the prison doors will open when enough people's hearts and minds have been opened to the basic truth and justice of this cause.
86 We therefore invite people of all faith traditions to unite in heart, mind, and spirit by participating in a 30- day discipline of prayer and meditation for Oscar's release as a form of spiritual preparation to commemorate the 30th anniversary of his incarceration on May 29.
Specifically, we invite people: to pause for prayer and meditation every morning for 30 days at 8:00 am Eastern time (or at another time if 8:00 is not possible) beginning on Friday, April 29, to participate in an ecumenical commemoration the 30th anniversary of Oscar's arrest on Sunday, May 29, and to pray and meditate for Oscar's release beginning at 8:00 am on Wednesday, June 1 and continuing weekly on Wednesday mornings until he is released from prison.
While we do not intend to prescribe a set length of time for this period of prayer or meditation, we suggest that it include at least time for thirty deep, mindful breaths " one for each of the years that Oscar has been in prison " to allow the vision of his freedom to fill our minds and hearts. Please join us in seeking to align our hearts, minds, and wills with one another, and more importantly, with that Spirit of truth and freedom to which Oscar has so clearly committed his life.
Let us breathe a prayer for Oscar A prayer for his freedom A prayer for our freedom. Beyond doctrine or creed, One minute, every day. Thirty deep breaths -- one for each year he has been in prison.
To see him in our mind's eye, walking through the prison gate and with us on the street at home in Puerto Rico where he belongs -- with his family with his community with his nation IN FREEDOM.
Letter from Camilo Pérez: The Passion for Freedom is Stronger than Any Cage
April 19, 2011 Anarchist News
Words from comrade Camilo Perez, from libertadalos14a & translated by War on Society:
87 The Passion for Freedom is Stronger than Any Cage
“(…) it’s about that spirit of combativeness without which even anarchists are left tame and will drop off, by one route or another, to the swamp of legalism… It is foolish, for the sake of saving a life, to destroy the reasons to live” -Errico Malatesta, “L’Agitacione,” 1901
In this “bombs case” that seeks to annihilate us, what is being persecuted is not a philosophy that is petrified in history, because ideas without practice are not dangerous; what power intends to judge is a way of facing life, and without seeming pretentious, today as in centuries past what the State intends to judge is the potential threat of Anarchy; this is one of the inevitable clashes between two opposing forces.
This letter is a call to combat the lethargy of words, to not sink into the decidedness of the devoted and obedient sheep; this is a call to heed instinct, for the resurgence of convictions in immense forms, that every blow may strengthen the temper of rage and the undying rebellious will of which flesh and fire are made.
The gestures of solidarity crack the walls and saw through the bars, the anonymous cries made heard as resounding thunder.
In this “Week of Agitation and Propaganda” (April 14 to 21), I wish to send my respects to all the prisoners of war* of the world, to those who realize that the cages are not caves for revolutionary hibernation, but rather another place of confrontation against authority.
For all the irreducible enemies of power, mark my little wink of complicity.
May the brothers and sisters who fly free know that they are not forgotten, may their wings carry them far from their cages. Courage, Comrades!
Strength to all.
For Living Anarchy, onward I cry, “Long Live Anarchy!”
Crazy Old Man, Anarchic Rebel on Hunger Strike. From the Indomitable Roots of South America. 13th of April, 2001
* translator’s note: “lax presxs en guerra,” means more literally “prisoners at war,” and thus conveys Camilo’s idea of the struggle within prison more effectively than the common English term “prisoners of war,” which we chose for its familiarity.
Letter from Martino from the Dezza prison (Italy)
April 20, 2011 Anarchist News from informa-azione, translated by war on society:
The real terrorist is the one who incarcerates and drops bombs, not those who fight against them!
My name is Martin, I am one of the anarchists arrested in Bologna on April 88 6 a result of another wave of repression orchestrated by the state: an operation that led to the arrest of five comrades, the expulsion of another 7, a large number of searches (carried out simultaneously in different cities) and even the sequestration of the documentation space Fuoriluogo (which goes from being a home where radical critical texts are distributed and that organizes weekly public events, to being an impregnable fortress of the terrorists), in an investigation on which the prosecutor had worked for a long time and which, after some anonymous attacks occurred in the city in one week against IBM, ENI, Emilbanca and Northern League, they decided it was time to pursue (although in the summary of papers that was delivered at the time of our arrest, there is no reference to these facts, with good peace for the reactionary journalists).
In a climate of media lynching aimed at intimidating the many individuals from joining the struggles in which anarchists are committed due to the scorched earth around them (that with Maroni announced its deadly descent into the city) the arrest of someone was necessary.
Because the police are there; the police have been there. It's all under control.
We are the usual suspects: every expression of non-recuperable dissent must be distorted, circumscribed to a "private war" between power and its declared enemies, to defuse its social trajectory and thwart its potential.
As if, after subtracting the anarchists, in this world of commodities there would only be docile subjects convinced they live in the best of all possible worlds.
Yet notice that in the world in which we live, there is no need to be one of the subversives: from the impending nuclear threat to the war of occupation in Libya abroad; from the ruling militarization to the imprisonment of migrants at home... the daily catastrophe of the society of profit is suffered by everyone.
At a time when the dark resignation that too often hovers over the northern coast of the Mediterranean is illuminated by the insurrections that inflame the southern coast.
At a time when the N.A.T.O. issue a report (Urban Operations in the Year 2020) in which its analysts envision scenarios for 2020 in which the army will be massively used to quell revolts in poor suburbs of large western cities.
In times of crisis, you cannot be surprised if the spread of the anarchist ideal (especially if advocated by individuals who do not wait with folded hands for the future arrival of a free and federated humanity but instead fight here and now, throwing themselves into play) disturbs the dreams of those who command.
In reality when viewed clearly, in a society such as this the only "role" that is ethically acceptable is that of the enemy within: - I do not want to be complicit in a society that devastates the earth our host - I do not want to be complicit in an economy that, in order to survive, needs to continue wars and reduce entire populations to hunger - I do not want to be complicit in the guards who rape and kill in the 89 barracks, in the CIE, in police stations and in prisons - I will not be an accomplice of a society that develops nanotechnology and genetic modification in order to control life and bend it to their profitability requirements - I do not want to be complicit in the racism of the immigrant hunt, the prison that awaits those who will not bend to the laws of a country where governments may change but the cameras, batons and barbed wire remain. - I will not be an accomplice of religious hypocrisy and of the sex tourism which is often its counterpart. - I do not want to be complicit in the ongoing massacre of millions of animals raised and fattened for food in the animal industry that poisons and starves, or to test products and enter new markets (even if it means inventing new diseases to patent new drugs).
To the contrary, a salutation and embrace to those who fight against all of that: solidarity with the comrades in prison in Italy, Switzerland, Germany, France, Greece, Spain, Chile, Argentina, Mexico and the United States; with the Mapuche in struggle for their land; with the "Freedom Fighters" in the Niger Delta, the insurgency in the Maghreb and every struggle that I do not know or name.
Thanks for the great solidarity shown towards me and the others arrested [on April 6th].
Ever of the party of those who, crushed by a leaden sky, choose to bring the tempest!
Ever more lucid! Ever more furious! Always with head held high! Always with rage!
For anarchy,
Martino
Krakow banner drop in Solidarity with the prisoners in Greece and Chile
April 22, 2011 Infoshop news
In response to solidarity demonstrations for the political prisoners on Saturday in Greece and bearing in mind the solidarity week for the Chilean fighters we decided to take some initiatives in Krakow, Poland the place where solidarity movement was born and where it seems this word has been forgotten. This is the first in a series of actions that will take place.
We can be easily distracted by Krakow's luring and picturesque architecture and vibrant nightlife, or its rich history. But what is the point of learning about this history of struggle and visiting museums if we forget about the struggles of the present? Let us not be discouraged by the spectacle created by and for tourists, police presence everywhere, the surveillance cameras or even the bizarre existence of neo-nazis. Because as with uprisings of the past, this city, this country, harvests the seeds of rebellion in every corner.
With love and rage deep in our hearts we ignore the risks.
Burn the prisons!
90
BK/NY – Tuesday, April 26th – May Day Card-Writing for Anarchist Political Prisoners
Sunday, April 24 2011 Infoshop News
You've probably been working too many hours a week to even notice the full-blown war being waged against you by the ruling class. It is real and it is continuing. And of course there is another war-- the war against folks imprisoned for their political beliefs and actions. And here's where we bridge the two. This week, NYC ABC will be hosting our fourth annual May Day card-writing night. We will be sending greeting cards to anarchist political prisoners and there's an easy (too easy? POSSIBLY!) way for you to help. Just come by, eat some food, sign some cards, maybe meet folks you don't already know, and show some base level solidarity with those behind bars.
What: Political Prisoner Letter-Writing Dinner When: 7pm (sharp), Tuesday, April 26th, 2011 Where: 885 Park Avenue, Brooklyn, New York (see below for directions) Cost: Free
The deal, as always, is that you come bringing only yourself (and your friends and comrades), and we provide you with a delicious vegan meal, information about the prisoners as well as all of the letter-writing materials and prisoner-letter-writing info you could ever want to use in one evening. In return, you write a thoughtful letter to a political prisoner or prisoner of war of your choosing or, better yet, keep up a long-term correspondence. We’ll also provide some brief updates and pass around birthday cards for the PP/POWs whose birthdays fall in the next two weeks thanks to the Anarchist Birthday Brigade.
DIRECTIONS: Getting to 885 Park Avenue is simple: From the J/M/Z: Flushing Stop: Walk southeast on Broadway (toward Sumner Place, away from Thornton Street) and make a right on Park Avenue. We’re halfway down the block, on your right. Myrtle Stop: Walk northwest on Broadway (toward Melrose Street, away from Troutman Street) and make a left on Park Avenue. We’re halfway down the block on the right.
From the G Train: Flushing Avenue Stop: Walk south on Marcy Avenue (toward Hopkins Street, away from Wallabout Street) and turn left on Park Avenue. We’re three and a half blocks down on the left. Myrtle-Willoughby Avenues Stop: Walk north on Marcy Avenue (toward Stockton Street, away from Vernon Avenue) and turn right on Park Avenue. We’re three and a half blocks down on your left.
91 If you have any questions, feel free to get in touch. Otherwise, we'll see you at supper.
This event is brought to you by your friendly neighborhood Anarchist Black Cross.--
ABCF-NYC Post Office Box 110034 Brooklyn, New York 11211 nycabc[at]riseup[dot]net
Free all Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War! For the Abolition of State Repression and Domination!
Guantanamo files': Dozens held were innocent
Leaked files reveal details of interrogations of "high-risk" detainees, but suggest many innocents were also rounded up.
25 Apr 2011 Al Jazeera
US officials were said to have found no reason recorded for some detainees' transfer to Guantanamo [Al Jazeera]
The United States released dozens of so-called "high-risk" detainees from the Guantanamo Bay prison facility and held more than 150 innocent men for years, according to new reports about a trove of leaked military documents.
The more than 700 classified military files, part of a massive cache of secret documents leaked to the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks, were made available to select US and European media outlets and made public on Sunday.
It was not clear if the media outlets published the documents with the consent of WikiLeaks - and it was not immediately possible to independently verify all of the leaked documents.
The files are reported to reveal new information about some of the men held at the US prison facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, including details of the more than 700 detainee interrogations and evidence the US had collected against the "terror" suspects.
The files - called Detainee Assessment Briefs or DABs - describe the security intelligence value of the detainees and whether they would be a threat to the US and its allies if released.
'High-risk' threat
To date, 604 inmates have been transferred out of Guantanamo while 172 remain detained.
Thousands of pages of the files are reported to reveal that most of the prisoners who remain at Guantanamo - 130 of them - have been rated as posing a "high-risk'" threat to the US if they are freed without rehabilitation or supervision.
92 Even more of the George W Bush-era "war on terror" suspects were branded "high-risk" before being released or handed to other governments, The New York Times, one of the newspapers that received the documents, reported.
The documents show some inmates were described as more dangerous than previously known to the public and could complicate efforts by the US to transfer detainees out of the prison.
However, the documents also show that dozens of detainees were found to be innocent, after being held for lengthy periods.
At least 150 people were innocent Afghans or Pakistanis, including drivers, farmers and chefs, who were rounded up as part of frantic intelligence gathering, and then detained for years.
In several cases, senior US commanders were said to have concluded that there is "no reason recorded for transfer".
Al Jazeera file
The documents also show instances in which authorities were concerned less with containing dangerous suspects than on extracting intelligence.
One file shows that Sami al-Hajj, an Al Jazeera journalist held at Guantanamo for six years, was detained partly in order to be interrogated about the news network.
His file states that one of the reasons he was detained was "to provide information on … the Al Jazeera news network's training programme, telecommunications equipment, and newsgathering operations in Chechnya, Kosovo and Afghanistan, including the network's acquisition of a video of UBL [Osama bin Laden] and a subsequent interview with UBL".
Al-Hajj was released in 2008 and has since returned to work for Al Jazeera.
Hundreds of other detainees reportedly underwent aggressive interrogation techniques before it was determined that they were low-level fighters.
Legal limbo
The administration of US president Barack Obama criticised the publication of the files as "unfortunate", calling them "sensitive information".
"It is unfortunate that several news organisations have made the decision to publish numerous documents obtained illegally by WikiLeaks concerning the Guantanamo detention facility,'' ambassador Daniel Fried, the Obama administration's special envoy on detainee issues, and Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell, said in a joint statement.
But they added that the documents were out of date, and that the administration's Guantanamo review panel, established in January 2009, had made its own assessments.
"The assessments of the Guantanamo Review Task Force have not been compromised to WikiLeaks. 93 Thus, any given DAB (Detainee Assessment Briefs) illegally obtained and released by WikiLeaks may or may not represent the current view of a given detainee."
Obama pledged two years ago to close the prison, but it remains in legal limbo.
P.A Slams Subaru Ad, Subaru-Israel Denies Relation To The Commercial
Sunday April 24, 2011 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies The Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank expressed on Thursday its anger over an advertisement showing the Subaru car hitting two Palestinian children in Jerusalem with “We will see who will stand in front of you” written in Hebrew on the ad.
AFP Photo - ILIA YEFIMOVICH
Dr. Ghassan Al Khateeb Media, Spokesperson of the Palestinian Authority, told China’s Xinhua agency that that the PA had filed a complaint to the Israeli branch of Subaru over the ad that mocks the severe injuries of two children from Jerusalem, who were rammed, in October 2010, by a Subaru vehicle driven by David Be’eri, Director-General of the Elad settlement organization.
The settler was briefly detained by the Israeli police, and was released after he claimed that he had no other choice but to ram them with his car “as he had to defend himself after the two children hurled stones at him while driving it”, the Arabs48 news website reported.
Al Khateeb described the commercial as immoral and as an act that disregards the life of the Palestinian people.
He added that such ads encourage settler violence against the Palestinians, including running over Palestinian children, Xinhua said.
The Israeli Radio reported Thursday that spokesperson of Subaru in Israel denied any relation to the ad, and stated that the company did not publish this ad and protested against attempts to harm its reputation.
The Gulf News reported on its website on Friday that the advertisement had “resurfaced a few days ago on a Facebook page for the Subaru car company in Israel, with some words in Hebrew. (We will
94 see who will stand in front of you).
The Gulf News added sources told it that once the company noticed the picture on its Facebook page, it immediately removed it.
The sources added that Subaru-Israel also asked Palestinian media agencies to remove the picture from their websites, but they refused, Gulf News said.
The ad also led Peace Now Movement in Israel to protest against it. Peace Now spokesperson, Hagit Ghufran, stated that this ad “is a clear evidence of the existence of fanaticism in Israel’s Subaru branch, especially in areas where there is conflict with the Palestinians.
Ghufran added that such act will lead to more violence, especially against children.
Khalid Quzmar of the International Movement to Defend Children, called for taking the people behind the ad to court, adding that, “unfortunately going to the law through Israeli courts is useless because Israeli courts are serving the occupation which gave a cover to such behaviors." Xinhua said.
Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, also denounced the advertisement describing it as “propaganda that reached to the leveled of encouraging the killing of Palestinian children”.
Updated From Alleged Subaru Car Ad In Israel Shows “Power” By Running Over Palestinian Children Saed Bannoura, IMEMC & Agencies, Fri, 22 Apr 2011 03:38:45
A new advertisement in Israel, reportedly published by Subaru-Israel facebook page, meant to show the “power and durability” of the Japanese Subaru car, caused outrage after showing a Subaru driven by a Jewish settler striking two Palestinian children in occupied East Jerusalem, Press TV reported. The advertisement was allegedly published by the Subaru dealership in Israel, featuring an incident that took place last year when the settler struck two Palestinian children with his Subaru car.
The settler, known to the Israeli police, fled the scene after injuring the two children. The attack was capture on video.
“We Will See Who Can Stand Against You”, was written in the right corner of the horrific picture of a Palestinian child flying into the air after being rammed by the settlers’ Subaru.
The victims were two Palestinian children aged 10 and 12. The 10-year-old child suffered a broken leg. The settler is at large, and is not even wanted for his crime.
The Fateh movement of President Mahmoud Abbas slammed the Subaru ad and described it as an act of aggression, promoting the harm and murder of Palestinian children.
The settler who rammed the children with his car was identified as David Be’eri, Director-General of the Elad settlement organization, an extremist settler real estate corporation that heavily promotes removing the Palestinians from Palestine, especially from Jerusalem, and replacing them with Jewish settlers.
95 The Elad movement heavily encourages Jewish settlers to move into Palestinian neighborhoods in occupied East Jerusalem, and provides them with financial support. Most of its financial comes from Zionist groups in the United States.
'Deadliest day' in Syria uprising
Dozens reported dead in bloodiest day of uprising so far as "Great Friday" demonstrations rock towns across country.
April 22, 2011 Al Jazeera
Video News: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/04/201142212452973755.html
As many as 70 people were reported to have been killed in Syria on the bloodiest day since the uprising began, as security forces use live ammunition and tear gas to quell anti-government protests across the country.
Activists sent a list naming 70 people from across the country who they said had been killed by security forces during the "Great Friday" protests. AL Jazeera has been unable to confirm the exact number of fatalities.
Fifteen of the deaths took place in Izraa, near the flashpoint southern town of Daraa, according to the list.
Deaths were reported in Douma and Zamalka, near Damascus (see this video posted from an unknown source from Zamalka). Other protesters were killed in Homs, Syria's third largest city, in Moadamia and in Daraa and elsewhere.
Demonstrators marching in peace were surprised by security forces' live ammunition, according to Hazem, a protester who spoke to Al Jazeera via phone from a Damascus suburb.
"Demonstrators were going with olive branches, it was peaceful" until they were "surprised by live ammunition from some security forces in one of the flats of the street", Hazem said. 96
The protesters took to the streets to mark what activists dubbed "Great Friday" - the biggest demonstrations against Bashar al-Assad's government to date.
Al Jazeera's Rula Amin reported from Damascus, which until now was relatively calm, that the level of tension in the city on Friday marked a new point in the uprising.
“This day is turning into a very bloody day, probably the bloodiest since the protests started,” she said.
In the capital, however, a heavy security presence prevented protests from taking off.
"Obviously the government want[s] to make a point, the capital is a redline and they will not allow the protests to reach the capital."
Several witnesses, including medical professionals, told Al Jazeera that many of the injured were either being refused access to hospitals or were too scared to seek treatment.
A spokesperson for the ministry of information told Al Jazeera on Friday that security forces would fire on protesters only if they were fired upon first.
State television, meanwhile, aired a talk show where speakers blamed foreign media, including Al Jazeera, Al Arabiya and BBC Arabic, for inciting the protests.
Violence in Homs
Speaking under condition of anonymity, a witness in Homs described how about 200 protesters, moving ahead of a 3,000-strong group, came under fire as they marched down Cairo Street, close to the Clock Square that has been the city's focus for protests.
"Suddenly the security opened fire on us randomly," the activist told Al Jazeera by phone.
One of those killed in the city by government officers was a 25-year-old protester named Mohammed Bassam al-Kahil, he said.
Meanwhile, another witness in Hasakah, in Syria's mainly Kurdish northeast, told Al Jazeera that demonstrators gathering at a mosque after prayers were attacked by pro-government protesters.
Syrian activists co-ordinating the protests against al-Assad's rule have demanded the abolition of his Baath Party's monopoly on power and the establishment of a democratic political system.
In the first joint statement since protests erupted five weeks ago, the Local Co-ordination Committees, representing provinces across Syria, said "freedom and dignity slogans cannot be achieved except through peaceful democratic change".
"All prisoners of conscience must be freed. The existing security apparatus has to be dismantled and replaced by one with specific jurisdiction and which operates according to law," said the joint 97 statement.
Contest of wills
On the eve of the protests, witnesses said security forces were setting up checkpoints in areas surrounding Damascus, checking people's ID cards.
The demonstrations are a test of whether Assad's decision to lift emergency law, imposed by his Baath Party when it took power in a coup 48 years ago, will defuse mass discontent with repression and corruption.
Haitham Maleh, who heads the Syrian Human Rights Association, a civil-rights group, told Al Jazeera that the regime's reforms only went a fraction of the way towards satisfying the protesters' demands for more freedom, democracy and the legalisation of opposition parties.
"The government will not do anything, I think, and the strikes will get bigger and bigger," he said.
A spokeswoman for Syria's information ministry says security forces could open fire if protesters shoot first
Al Jazeera's Amin said that because one of the conditions for the newly gained right to protest was to request a permit, today's protests fell outside of the changes.
"There was no time for anyone to ask for permission for today," she said.
Aided by his family and a pervasive security apparatus, Assad, 45, has absolute power in Syria.
More than 220 protesters have been killed since pro-democracy protests erupted on March 18 in Daraa, rights campaigners say.
A decree Assad signed on Thursday that lifted emergency law is seen by the opposition as little more than symbolic, since other laws still give entrenched security forces wide powers.
Human Right Watch, the New York-based rights monitor, said Assad "has the opportunity to prove his intentions by allowing [Friday's] protests to proceed without violent repression.
"The reforms will only be meaningful if Syria's security services stop shooting, detaining, and torturing protesters," Joe Stork, the group's deputy Middle East director, said.
The authorities have blamed armed groups, infiltrators and Sunni Muslim armed groups for provoking violence at demonstrations by firing on civilians and security forces.
Stepping backwards
Commenting on the Syrian situation, Robert Fisk, the veteran Middle East reporter for the UK's Independent newspaper, says Assad appears to be "stepping backwards" [see above video for full interview].
"Once you start giving these concessions, the crowds on the streets want more and it will always end at the same demand: end of the dictator," he 98 told Al Jazeera from Beirut on Friday.
With his belated concessions, Assad is "is now enduring the failures that he committed 11 years ago", he said.
While crowds in Damascus and Deraa are getting bigger, Fisk said Assad will not be fleeing Syria yet.
"He's in a lot of trouble and there must be a lot of talk in the presidential palace tonight," he said.
Western and other Arab countries have mostly muted their criticism of the killings in Syria for fear of destabilising the country, which plays a strategic role in many of the conflicts in the Middle East.
Syria is technically at war with Israel but has kept its Golan Heights front quiet since a 1974 ceasefire.
49 killed in deadliest day of Syria uprising
By BASSEM MROUE, Associated Press April 22, 2011
BEIRUT – Syrian security forces fired bullets and tear gas Friday on pro-democracy demonstrations across the country, killing at least 49 people — including a young boy — in the bloodiest day of the uprising against President Bashar Assad's authoritarian regime, witnesses and a human rights group said.
The protests, held every Friday, have become weekly bloodbaths as security forces try to crush the demonstrations. But the mounting death tolls have only served to invigorate a protest movement whose demands have snowballed from modest reforms to the downfall of the 40-year Assad dynasty.
More than 250 people have been killed over five weeks, human rights groups say.
"Bullets started flying over our heads like heavy rain," said one witness in Izraa, a southern village in Daraa province, the same region where the uprising kicked off in mid-March.
Ammar Qurabi, head of Syria's National Organization for Human Rights, said the death toll had reached 49 and at least 20 people were missing.
The protest movement has been the gravest challenge against the autocratic regime led by Assad, who inherited power from his father 11 years ago in one of the most rigidly controlled countries in the Middle East.
The uprising in Syria takes its inspiration from the popular revolts sweeping the Arab world. But there are significant differences in Syria that make the protest movement there all the more unpredictable.
The country's military structure is a key difference — unlike the armies of Tunisia and Egypt, Syria's military and security apparatus will almost certainly stand by Assad, at least for the time being.
That means there could be darker days ahead as the uprising gains momentum, something that has implications far beyond Syria's borders. Damascus stands in the middle of the most combustible conflicts in region 99 because of its web of allegiances, from Lebanon's Hezbollah and Shiite powerhouse Iran.
On Friday, tens of thousands of people were protesting in the Damascus suburb of Douma, the central cities of Hama and Homs, Latakia and Banias on the coast, the northern cities of Raqqa and Idlib, the northeastern Kurdish region, and the southern province of Daraa.
As the protesters dispersed, the scope of the bloodshed began to emerge.
A video posted on the protest movement's main Facebook page showed a man carrying a bloodied boy near a building as another child could be heard weeping and shouting "My brother!"
Hospitals received scores of dead and gravely wounded.
Friday's witness accounts could not be independently confirmed because Syria has expelled journalists and restricted access to trouble spots. Witnesses spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
Assad has been trying to defuse the protests by launching a bloody crackdown along with a series of concessions, most recently lifting emergency laws that gave authorities almost boundless powers of surveillance and arrest.
He also has fulfilled a decades-old demand by granting citizenship to thousands among Syria's long-ostracized Kurdish minority, fired local officials, released detainees and formed a new government.
But many protesters said the concessions have come too late — and that Assad does not deserve the credit.
"The state of emergency was brought down, not lifted," prominent Syrian activist Suhair Atassi, who was arrested several times in the past, wrote on her Twitter page. "It is a victory as a result of demonstrations, protests and the blood of martyrs who called for Syria's freedom."
Been to Cuba Lately?
April 21, 2011 Huffington Post by Mike Farrell
Hey, how you doing?
What's new? Been to Cuba lately?
Oh, that's right, you're only a U.S. citizen; you can't.
You can't. How stupid is that?
I guess they worry you'll catch communism or something. But you know what? Canadians and Europeans go there all the time without catching ... well, I guess Tea Party types say they're already socialists, so ... But hey, that's what they say about Obama.
100 But really, I ask you, what's the big deal? I went to Cuba some years back and I didn't come back a commie, though some on Fox might argue the point.
Our group had the required dispensation for researching Cuban medical and educational needs. And the trip was very interesting. We saw some extraordinary things, learned a lot about the country, the people and the government. We saw that education is free and they encourage -- and pay for -- people to become doctors. As a result, Cubans have free medical care and the government provides doctors to other countries. In fact they offered to send a group of physicians here to help out after Katrina. But I guess Mr. Bush and company didn't like the idea of free medical care.
Mr. Obama seems inclined to change things a bit, but our decades-old embargo continues to do harm - - as much to us as to them, one could argue. And the politics that drive it are truly absurd. We have relationships with Vietnam and China, for God's sake, so why do we let a group of diehard right-wing Cuban émigrés in Miami and their acolytes in Congress wave their tattered anti-communist banner and frighten us away from a productive relationship with another baseball-loving Caribbean island?
This anti-Castro obsession has led us down a rocky road for decades: a bungled invasion; illegal, embarrassing assassination attempts; nearly a nuclear war; the harboring of terrorists on our own shores; and decades of lies and hypocrisy.
It's nuts. And it continues. Two recent examples of the utter stupidity of our ongoing cold war against Cuba include the operetta involving an actual terrorist, Luis Posada Carriles, and the dark tragedy of the Cuban Five, who are not.
Posada Carilles, who once told the New York Times, "I sleep like a baby," is, according to evidence known by our government, a CIA asset responsible for an ongoing terror campaign against Cuba, including the bombing of an airliner that cost 73 lives. Months after his publicly celebrated move to the U.S. in 2005, Posada Carriles was finally charged by the Bush Administration, not with terrorism but fraudulent entry.
The ante was raised a bit by the Obama Justice Dept. in 2009, adding perjury charges (again not terrorism) for statements he made under oath relating to hotel bombings. But after he was finally brought to trial three months ago in federal court in El Paso, Texas, under a Bush-appointed judge who, according to one report, "simply turned the floor over to the defense attorney," Posada Carriles was acquitted of all charges and is now free to enjoy life in Miami, where anti-Castro zealots cheer him as a hero.
Compare that outrage to this one:
Because of decades of attacks against Cuba by U.S.-based anti-Castro organizations like CORU, the F4 Commandos, Brothers to the Rescue, Omega 7 and Alpha 66, which Cuba reported 10 years ago had cost thousands of lives and great damage (including hotel bombings connected to Luis Posada Carriles), five Cuban intelligence officers were sent to the U.S. to gather information about these groups in an attempt to blunt their effectiveness.
The five, Gerardo Hernández Nordelo, Antonio Guerrero Rodriguez, Ramón Labañino Salazar, Fernando González Llort and René González Sehwerert, not only succeeded in doing so, but sent
101 home information on the activities of the groups that the Cuban government then made known (as if it was news) to U.S. authorities.
Agents of the FBI went to Cuba in 1998 to receive the information gathered by the five, returning with reams of evidence of terrorism committed by U.S.-based groups. However, instead of acting against them, the FBI, having discerned the identities of the five, arrested them instead, hoping to charge them with espionage.
But, because all they had done was infiltrate, observe and report on the groups committing terror against Cuba, the U.S. was unable to prove the five had done anything illegal other than being unregistered agents of a foreign power. So, Bush's Justice Dept. retrenched and charged them with "conspiracy" to commit espionage and "conspiracy" to commit murder (because the Cuban Air Force shot down two Brothers to the Rescue planes after a mission over Cuba).
Refused a change of venue, the men, now known as the Cuban Five, were convicted in a Miami court (!) and sentenced to long terms in prison (Gerardo Hernández Nordelo receiving two life sentences on the conspiracy to commit murder charge).
With their sentences overturned on appeal (a three-judge panel citing "prejudice" in Miami), reinstated and subsequently refused review, the Cuban Five have now served 12 years in American prisons for protecting their country from U.S.-based terrorism.
An international effort calling for freedom and fairness for the Cuban Five has grown up around the case. It includes Amnesty International, 10 Nobel Laureates, Mary Robinson, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights from 1997 to 2002, and many others. Former President Jimmy Carter added his voice after a recent trip to Cuba, saying,
I believe that there is no reason to keep the Cuban Five imprisoned; there were doubts in the U.S. courts and also among human rights organizations ... Now, they have been in prison 12 years and I hope that in the near future they will be released to return home. So do I. In the interests of full disclosure, I am one of a group of Actors and Artists United for the Freedom of the Cuban Five. For more information, www.thecuban5.org.
Summary of common a week of common actions to defend the Khimki hostages from the 2nd to the 9th of April 2011
Fri, 22/04/2011 avtonom.org
102 From 2nd of 9th of April 2011 and after, actions to defend “Khimki hostages”, Alexei Gaskarov and brothers Maxim and Denis Solopov were organised in six countries and 25 cities. Alexei Gaskarov and Maxim Solopov are currently out from jail, in court facing charges following from a demonstration, which was organised 28th of July 2010 in Moscow suburg of Khimki against construction of Moscow-St. Petersburg toll road, and the gross human rights violations against its opposers. Denis Solopov has been granted an UNCHR refugee status in Ukraine, but in beginning of April he was detained and is currently waiting his deportation court in Lykyanovka prison of Kiev.
To read original, more detailed call to wee of actions, visit http://khimkibattle.org/?p=1931&lang=en
Wheatpasting in Barnaul, Russia
On April 7 Barnaul anarchists pasted up placards demanding the withdrawal of all charges against Alexei Gaskarov, Maxim Solopov, and Denis Solopov, on bus stations.
Night of action in Belgorod, Russia
In Belgorod, anarchist and activist wheatpasted leaflets and hanged a placate to central square, next to city administration.
A banner drop in Chelyabinsk, Russia
The morning of April 9, Chelyabinsk anarchists hung a banner bearing the inscription "Free Khimki Hostages" in support of Maxim Solopov and Alexei Gaskarov.
A demonstration in Copenhagen, Denmark
5th of April local activists, as well as anti-fascists from Malmö of Sweden came to Ukrainian embassy in Copenhagen in order to protest against extradition arrest of Denis Solopov in Ukraine.
Food not Bombs in Glazov, Russia
Already after week of actions, there was a Food Not Bombs-action in Glazov where leaflets were distributed on situation of Khimki hostages 17th of April. Also in evening of 18th of April, leaflets were wheatpasted around the city.
An unexpected visit in Grenoble of France
Monday 4th of April, in opening ceremony of the Russian week of culture, between speeches from a representative of city administration and representative of the Russian embassy, local activists took the scene raising a banner with text “Freedom to forest defenders” in Russian, made a spontaneous speech about the situation around Khimki forest and leafletted visitors. Role of French transnational Vinci- corporation on destruction of Khimki forest was also paid due attention.
Open lecture in Irkutsk of Russia 103
In Irkutsk, an open lecture on theme “Journalism, freedom of speech and extremism” was organised in one of the universities of the city 7th of April, as part of the common days of action. Speakers were invited from Autonomous Action of Irkutsk and Indymedia-Siberia.
Izhevsk, Russia Solidarity with the Khimki Hostages
Within a common action campaign against criminal persecution of the antifascists Maxim Solopov and Alexei Gaskarov, as well as against Denis Solopov extradition from Ukraine to Russia, a solidarity action took place on April 9. At noon, members of the Autonomous Action-Izhevzk, anarchists and antifascists gathered at the central square of the city and joined a numerous Izhevsk opposition rally where they raised an issue of police repressions against members of the anarchist and antifascist movements. The rally participants reacted positively and were interested in Alexey Gaskarov and Solopov brothers' fate.
Then, they marched to the building of the Udmurtia State Council where another rally took place. During the rally an Autonomous action member spoke in detail about the Khimki Hostages case fabrication and denounced modern police-oligarchic regime established in the country. During and after the rally leaflets, posters, and stickers on the Khimki Case were pasted up.
Two banner drops in Kaliningrad of Russia
Local left-wing activist of Kaliningrad hanged two banners 9th of April, one for Denis Solopov and one for Khimki hostages in general. Posters were also wheatpasted around the city in night between 8th and 9th of April.
Kharkov of Ukraine for Khimki hostages
In Kharkov, a banner drop for Khimki hostages took place 9th of April. Passers by were curious to learn about the case, and were supportive of the action. Stickers were also distributed in the city transport.
Kiev of Ukraine against persecution of Russian activists
In action, which was perhaps the first demonstration of the week of action, around 50 local activists picketed the Russian embassy, demanding immediate release of Denis Solopov, who is currently remanded in Ukraine. The previous night, unknown activists renamed migration service, which illegally passed Denis to hands of the Ukrainian police, as “Kiev representation of the Khimki pig station”.
A solidarity action in Lvov of Ukraine
5th of April social resistance, a local group in Lvov of Western Ukraine made a banner drop, demanding freedom to Denis Solopov.
Moscow for the Khimki Hostages and for the defence of the Khimki forest
On April 9, activists of the Campaign for the release of the Khimki Hostages held a rally near the 104 Griboedov monument, and a picket in front of the Ukrainian Embassy. The rally attracted an around 100 people. Among the participants were the Khimki Hostages Alexei Gaskarov and Maxim Solopov (brother of Denis Solopov who is currently held in the Kiev temporary detention center), representatives of the Movement in defense of the Khimki Forest Yevgeniya Chirikova and Yaroslav Nikitenko (who urged protesters to participate in the international common action week on April 24- 30 and sign a petition in defence of the Khimki Forest and for the resignation of the Minister of Transport Igor Levitin), and other ecological and public activists.
Not only speakers but also musicians participated in the rally. Rap-bands xCHEx and The Chryme Scene, as well as Ryazan rapper Poltora zemlekopov performed in front of the rally participants.
After the meeting the protesters marched to the Ukrainian Embassy in order to hold a picket there. Only 50 persons were authorized to participate in the picket, therefore the rest of them had to stand aside. When picketers standing with banners and placards, shouted "What are you doing here?", so- called "outsiders" answered "We protest!" Besides, the picketers chanted such slogans as "Free Denis Solopov", "No political repressions", "Arrest of Solpov is a shame of Ukraine", "Saved a tree - put in jail" etc.
At the same day within the common action week a group of antifascists hung a banner bearing the inscription "Justify Denis, Lesha and Max!" at the "Serp I Molot" train station.
A banner drop in Nizhni Novgorod
In Nizhni Novgorod, a banner against attempt to deport Denis Solopov from Ukraine to Russia was dropped from one of the bridges of the city.
Illegal demonstration in Novosibirsk of Russia
Local authorities banned meeting of social-utopian movement “GeoFormation”, but it was organised anyway. Speeches were made and leaflets were distributed, eventually police and “Anti-extremist center” did not arrested anyone.
Banner drop and stencils in Orel, Russia
On the night of April 10, Orel anarchists and antifascists hung a banner and painted stencil graffiti dedicated to the public activists' detention, as well as distributed leaflets and stickers.
A picket in prosecutor's office of Perm, Russia
In Perm, local anarchist and left-wing activist picketed regional prosecutor's office. 15 picketers carried, among others, “extremist” citations from classical Russian writers Pushkin, Tolstoy, Gorky and Mayakovsky.
Protvino, Russia - solidarity with the Khimki Hostages
The solidarity action took place in Protvino town. Stencil graffiti and slogans were painted on walls.
In Serpukhov, Russia - a march in defense of Defendants in Khimki Case 105
Within the common action week anarchists and anti-authoritarian leftists of Serpukhov, Kaluga, and other neighboring Moscow Region towns held the march through the town streets (from the Town Administration to the railway station) in order to express their solidarity with the Khimki Hostages and other civil activists suffered from state repressions. The demonstration participants were supported by numerous honks of approval from passing drivers.
Activists in Sevilla of Spain for Khimki hostages
During week of actions, placates were put to several parks in the city, demanding freedom to repressed Russian anti-fascists and eco-anarchists.
Stockholm of Sweden – against detention of Denis Solopov
In friday 8th of April, local activists picketed Ukrainian embassy in Sweden, and also wheatpasted the entrance of the embassy with leaflets demanding release of Denis Solopov.
Tyumen – one person picket at Ukrainian consulate
12th of April, Ukrainian consulate was picketed in in Tyumne, in order to protest against attempts to illegally extradite Denis Solopov to Russia.
Volgograd: one-person picket in defense of Denis Solopov
On April 9 a one-person picket in defence of the Khimki Hostage Denis Solopov who is currently held in the Kiev temporary detention center, took place near the Volgograd Regional Court. Besides, Volgograd anarchists distributed leaflets in various parts of the city.
A solidarity action in Yaroslavl
Within the common action week a small picket took place in the center of Yaroslavl on April 8. The participants distributed leaflets, chanted different slogans, and attracted passers-by attention to the history of activists Alexei Gaskarov and Solopov brothers who had suffered from State authorities' arbitrariness.
Yekaterinburg: Picket in defense of the Khimki Hostages Alexei Gaskarov and Solopov brothers
Within the common action week the picket took place in front of the Sverdlovsk Department of the Interior on Saturday, April 9. The picket attracted an estimated 30 people including leftists, anarcho- communists, and antifascists of Yekaterinburg and Sverdlovsk Region. The activists have collected signatures for a petition urging the Moscow Regional Court and the President of the Russian Federation to stop criminal persecution against Alexei Gaskarov and Maxim Solopov.
Additional information: Campaign for the release of the Khimki Hostages 8-915-212-74-17,http://khimkibattle.org/, [email protected]
106 US Intelligence Veteran Defends Bradley Manning and WikiLeaks
April 18, 2011 andyworthington.co.uk
The story of Pfc Bradley Manning, the young US Army intelligence analyst allegedly responsible for leaking hundreds of thousands of classified documents to WikiLeaks, continues to act as a magnet for supporters worldwide, who are appalled by the accounts of his solitary confinement, and the humiliation to which he has recently been subjected, which has involved him sleeping naked at night, and having to stand naked outside his call during cell inspections in the morning, even though the alleged basis for this humiliation — that he is at risk of committing suicide — has been disproved by the miltary’s own records, in which his alleged propensity to commit suicide has been repeatedly challenged.
While sympathizing fully with Pfc Manning’s plight, I do hope that those supporting him will also realize that the humiliation to which he is being subjected, and its probable intent — to make him produce false confessions about his relationship with Julian Assange of WikiLeaks — is not unique, as it echoes the conditions in which prisoners in the “War on Terror” — at Guantánamo and elsewhere, including, in three instances, on the US mainland — were held by the Bush administration, whose detention also involved torture and abuse, and the creation of circumstances in which confessions would be produced, whether they were true or not.
This was part of a disgraceful policy that has not come to an end under President Obama, as Guantánamo is still open, and 172 men are held there, with the administration, Congress and the courts having all conspired to prevent the release of any of them (even though 89 of them have been cleared for release). In addition, at Bagram in Afghanistan, there are still men held who were seized up to nine years ago in other countries, and were rendered to Bagram (after a tour of a variety of secret CIA prisons), where they remain in a legal black hole.
While I encourage readers to spare a thought for those still held in Guantánamo and Bagram, I reiterate that I understand the significance of Bradley Manning’s plight, as it is unaccepable that the ill-treatment of such a prominent prisoner is continuing, despite international outrage, just as it is unacceptable that he has not yet been put forward for trial, as he has now been held for nearly a year, since his initial arrest in Kuwait last May.
In an important update to Manning’s story, the website The Western Front recently interviewed Evan Knappenberger, an Iraq War veteran and former Army intelligence specialist, who graduated from the
107 same intelligence school as Manning, and who has some important insights: firstly, about how dehumanizing it was working as an intel analyst in Iraq, and how, at the same time, when it came to having access to classified documents on the Defense Department’s online network, “Army security is [or was] like a Band-Aid on a sunken chest wound.”
Knappenberger also explains how the leaking of information by Manning (if indeed it was him) “has raised consciousness quite a bit of the true nature of what’s going on,” adding that he is appalled by the military’s obsession with classifying as secret everything that takes place in its wars, and how he is also appalled that Manning, as a whistleblower, should have rights and protections that are denied to him, and also regards his treatment as a disgrace.
This is a powerful interview, and I do hope that you have the time to read it, and also to circulate it to others.
Manning Peer Sheds Light on WikiLeaks: Former military intel analyst shares his thoughts on the motive of alleged leaks By Will Graff, The Western Front, April 15, 2011
Former military intel analyst shares his thoughts on the motive of alleged leaks.
The alleged leaker, intelligence specialist Private First Class Bradley Manning, is now in Quantico military prison in Virginia, where he has been held in solitary confinement since his arrest in July 2010. On April 10, nearly 300 top legal scholars, authors and experts signed a letter condemning his treatment as torture.
Evan Knappenberger, an Iraq War veteran and former intelligence specialist in the Army, graduated from the same intelligence school as Bradley Manning in May 2004 and was given secret clearance.
Knappenberger is now a junior at Western majoring in mathematics. He was interviewed last week for a PBS Frontline documentary about WikiLeaks, Manning and military information security. The Western Front interviewed Knappenberger about his experience in the military and his connection to WikiLeaks.
The Western Front: What is your connection to Bradley Manning?
Evan Knappenberger: Well, I have a couple connections to Bradley. The first is that we both went to the same intelligence school. We went to the same basic training company, pretty much an identical track all the way through.
They have [Manning’s] chat logs with the guy who turned him in. He talks about why he [leaked the documents]. He says on those chat logs that it’s out of principle. He didn’t like what he saw in Iraq. He talks about the collateral murder video, watching civilians get killed by American soldiers pretty much unprovoked. He had a change of heart, I think, that’s why he says he decided to release all these documents — if in fact, it was him that did it.
I was involved in torture in Iraq. Part of an intel analyst’s job is “targeting.” You take a human being and put him on a piece of paper, distill his life into one piece of paper. You’ve got a grid coordinate of where he lives and a little box that says what to do with him: kill, capture, detain, exploit, source — 108 you know, there’s different things you can do with him. When I worked in “targeting,” it was having people killed.
The thing that gets me about that is I don’t think anybody who’s aware of what’s going on can do that work for very long without having a major problem come up. Most of the guys I went through intel school with, who went to Iraq with me, are either dead, killed themselves, are in a long-term care institution or completely disabled. I’m actually 50 percent disabled via PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder), mostly because of the stuff that happened.
The Western Front: What kind of access did you have here and in Iraq?
Evan Knappenberger: Army security is like a Band-Aid on a sunken chest wound. I remember when I was training, before I had my clearance even, they were talking about diplomatic cables. It was a big scandal at Fort Huachuca [in Arizona], with all these kids from analyst school. Somebody said [in the cables] Sadaam wanted to negotiate and was willing to agree to peace terms before we invaded, and Bush said no. And this wasn’t very widely known. Somehow it came across on a cable at Fort Huachuca, and everybody at the fort knew about it.
It’s interesting the access we had. I did the briefing for a two-star general every morning for a year. So I had secret and top-secret information readily available. The funny thing is, Western’s password system they have here on all these computers is better security than the Army had on their secret computers.
There are 2 million people, many of them not U.S. citizens, with access to SIPRNet [Secret Internet Protocol Router Network, the Department of Defense’s largest network for the exchange of classified information and messages]. There are 1,400 government agencies with SIPR websites. It’s not that secret.
The Western Front: Do you think private military contractors play a role in this?
Evan Knappenberger: Oh yeah. I worked in a place called a SCIF [Secret Compartmentalized Information Facility] and almost anybody, if they spoke English, could get in there. It wasn’t hard at all.
Every military base has [a SCIF]. There’s one in Bellingham, too. It’s by the airport. The only security they have at the SCIFs I worked at was one guy on duty at a desk. They had barbed wire you could literally step right over.
We basically gave [the Iraqi army] SIPRNet. It’s not official, but if you’ve got a secret Internet computer sitting there with a wire running across from the American side of the base, with no guard, you’re basically giving them access.
Then in every Iraqi division command post, you have a SIPRNet computer, with all the stuff Bradley Manning leaked and massive amounts more.
I could look up FBI files on the SIPRNet. In fact, I was reading Hunter Thompson’s Hell’s Angels book, and I was like “this sounds cool,” and I looked up all the Hell’s Angels.
109 We looked up the JFK assassination, I couldn’t find anything on that. It was kind of a game, but, yeah, that’s the SIPRNet. You’ve got access to every so-called sensitive piece of information.
You’ve basically got us sitting there in an Iraqi division command post, and to make it all better, the U.S. Army put one guard guy there to guard it. They would switch us off every 12 hours with another guy. If he gets up to go to the bathroom, the SIPRNet is just sitting there. All you need is knowledge of the English language and knowledge of how to use Internet Explorer.
The Western Front: Is all the information Bradley Manning leaked on those computers under the same security?
Evan Knappenberger: He has top-secret clearance, and it’s a little better. It’s like there’s one more door you have to go through to get to the top-secret computers, maybe. Sometimes there is and sometimes there isn’t.
The Western Front: What do you think the release of these documents and WikiLeaks have accomplished?
Evan Knappenberger: I think it has raised consciousness quite a bit of the true nature of what’s going on. Anybody now can go see the daily incident log of what happened in Iraq. What WikiLeaks did, what all of this did, is give real credibility to people who want to tell the truth. You can corroborate stories.
The Western Front: What do you think the attacks on WikiLeaks and Manning’s imprisonment say about freedom in the United States?
Evan Knappenberger: The fact we think we can classify everything that goes on in a war is ridiculous. And the fact that the press really doesn’t have the freedom to report on the military is ridiculous.
The second part of it is Bradley Manning and his treatment. If he was in any other government agency or private agency, he’d be considered a whistleblower. He’d have protections, but he’s not. It shows the gap of human rights in our military.
If he was anybody else, he’d be covered under the whistleblower protections or the freedom of speech. If a reporter gets classified information and publishes it, it’s not a crime. WikiLeaks is a reporting agency, so they should be covered under that. And anybody that works for them, i.e. Bradley Manning, should be covered under that, too.
The Western Front: What should people know about Bradley Manning and why should they care about this issue?
Evan Knappenberger: This is an American citizen. He’s an all-American kid. Born and raised in Oklahoma. If the constitutional rights don’t apply to him, it should scare everybody. Even if you don’t agree with what he allegedly did, you still have the obligation to care about the fact that he hasn’t been afforded his trial and he’s been treated with cruel and unusual punishment. Even if you’re against freedom of the press in this case, you still have the obligation to care about the kid. He’s being tortured. 110 It has been almost a year. They wake him up every five minutes. He’s stripped naked every day. The lights have been on in his cell 24/7 for a year. He gets one visitor a week. He can’t exercise in his cell, gets an hour a day to walk around a larger cell with no bed in it for exercise. Every human rights organization in the world has condemned his treatment as torture. That should scare the shit out of us because he’s not some Islamic fundamentalist who talks about Jihad, he’s an American kid, modern guy, who listens to pop music and happens to be gay.
Andy Worthington is the author of The Guantánamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America’s Illegal Prison (published by Pluto Press, distributed by Macmillan in the US, and available from Amazon — click on the following for the US and the UK) and of two other books: Stonehenge: Celebration and Subversion and The Battle of the Beanfield. To receive new articles in your inbox, please subscribe to my RSS feed (and I can also be found on Facebook, Twitter, Digg and YouTube). Also see my definitive Guantánamo prisoner list, updated in July 2010, details about the new documentary film, “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo” (co-directed by Polly Nash and Andy Worthington, on tour in the UK throughout 2011, and available on DVD here — or here for the US), my definitive Guantánamo habeas list and the chronological list of all my articles, and, if you appreciate my work, feel free to make a donation.
Rioters torch Australian immigration centre
Dozens of asylum-seekers torched nine buildings at a Sydney detention centre.
21 Apr 2011 Al Jazeera
Asylum seekers have torched nine buildings at a Sydney detention centre in a night of wild riots with a handful of protesters remaining on rooftops on Thursday as police worked to regain control.
The riots kicked off late on Wednesday at the Villawood Detention Centre with an estimated 100 detainees involved at the height of the drama.
Protesters set an oxygen cylinder alight, which led to an explosion, and nine buildings, including a medical centre and dining hall, were gutted by fire. Firefighters brought the blaze under control early on Thursday and no one was injured.
Around 400 people are held at Villawood. Many of them are asylum seekers, but the facility also houses people who have overstayed their visas.
On Thursday, seven detainees remained on the roof of one of the complex's buildings, next to a large sign that read: "We need help." 111
Immigration department spokesman Sandi Logan said he could not confirm reports the men were protesting because their visa applications had been rejected.
“But any suggestion that they're not being informed of the progress of their claim is nonsense. ... I don't know the motivation,” Logan said. “But it's clearly not going to help, in terms of endearing their settlement in Australia.”
Detention policy
Those still on the roof reportedly want a meeting with the immigration department, but Logan told reporters this would not happen.
"Until they come down, we won't be negotiating, but we are working and managing to get them down from the roof," he said.
Criminal charges could be filed against the rioters, some of whom threw roof tiles and pieces of furniture at officials trying to get the blaze under control, Logan said.
“This is obviously unacceptable behavior that will have to be investigated,” Acting Prime Minister Wayne Swan said.
The protest started with just two inmates, apparently upset at the immigration department denying their applications for visas to remain in Australia.
Australia has a policy of mandatory detention for asylum seekers while their claims are processed, and generally holds detainees on remote Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean.
But the increasing number of people arriving by boat has seen mainland centres also being used, including Villawood, which houses about 400 people.
Last month the Christmas Island facility endured days of riots, with about 250 inmates setting fire to accommodation tents and hurling makeshift explosives at police, prompting them to respond with tear gas.
New lawyers committed to new trial for Mumia Abu Jamal
By Saeed Shabazz -Staff Writer- | April 19, 2011 The Final Call
112 NEW YORK (FinalCall.com) - Mumia Abu-Jamal, 58, often called the “world's most famous death-row prisoner” penned a letter from his cell in Pennsylvania's SCI Greene prison last November telling supporters about changes to his legal team.
“They are experienced intelligent and well-motivated lawyers, who know what they are doing,” he wrote.
On April 3, his supporters, grassroots activists representing anti-death penalty organizations, Pan Africanists, nationalists, organized labor activists, the Million Worker March and anti-war organizations gathered on the ninth floor in Riverside Church to meet the two lead co-counselors.
Attorney Christine Swarms, director of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund's Criminal Justice Project, and Judith Ritter, Mumia Abu-Jamal professor at Widener Law School in Wilmington, Del., were greeted with a rousing ovation from the standing-room only crowd. The applause came with the announcement from event moderator Suzzanne Ross, chairperson of the Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition of New York City, that the Legal Defense Fund had taken on Mr. Abu Jamal's case. “Mumia is very relieved that his case is in the hands of the new team,” Ms. Ross said, before turning the podium over to the two attorneys.
The event co-sponsors were the International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal and the Riverside Church Prison Ministry.
The journalist, former Black Panther and supporter of the police-targeted back to the earth MOVE organization was sentenced to death in 1982 after being found guilty of the Dec. 9, 1981 murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner. Mr. Abu-Jamal has always maintained his innocence.
During his 30-year imprisonment, Mr. Abu-Jamal has published several books, the most notable being “Letters from Death Row” (1995), written newspaper columns and created commentary for radio airplay.
In 2001, the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Pa. found constitutional error in the jury instruction and verdict form used in the 1982 penalty phase of his case. The finding was affirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals in 2008, but was sent back to the Third Circuit Court by the U.S. Supreme Court last year for further review.
Mr. Abu-Jamal's appeal is still pending before the Third Circuit Court. “We do not know when the decision will be made,” Ms. Ritter told the gathering. The legal team's ultimate goal remains a new trial, which has been rejected by many courts, she said.
Ms. Ritter, who has represented the man called the “voice of the people” since 2002, noted Philadelphia's first Black district attorney, Seth Williams, may seek a new penalty trial with a new jury. Ms. Ritter has argued questions over instructions given to the jury before Mr. Abu-Jamal was sentenced to the death penalty in appeals before federal courts in 2007 and 2010.
113 “It is absolutely an honor to represent Mumia Abu-Jamal,” said Ms. Swarms. “No question the criminal justice system has failed him and that has everything to do with race. That is why the LDF is in this case.”
The activist attorney said the Legal Defense Fund is committed to eliminating racism in the criminal justice system nationally.
“The death penalty is the child of this country, which is a direct descendant of slavery, a violent way of controlling and maintaining slavery,” Attorney Swarms said.
The death sentence became a form of legal lynching by 1930 and 89 percent of those in America sentenced to death for rape between 1930 and 1972 were Black, she noted.
“So you can see that race is the most significant factor in giving the death penalty as a sentence,” Ms. Swarms concluded.
The gathering at Riverside Church received a surprise when Mr. Abu-Jamal called. He thanked everyone for coming out, saying there are so many problems in the country it would seem difficult to get people motivated to deal with his 30-year-old case.
Several people lined up to ask the popular political prisoner questions via telephone. “What has kept your spirit up?” asked one questioner.
“It has been a long, hard struggle. I have been blessed with a loving family. I am inspired when I see people organize against neo-colonial imperialism,” Mr. Abu-Jamal.
Ms. Ross told The Final Call, “The spirit in that room showed the significance of this movement 30 years later. Having the LDF is a major turning point, a lot of lawyers would not touch this case—LDF wants to win,” she said.
Pam Africa, the tireless driver of the International Coalition out of Philadelphia, told The Final Call her job is “to agitate and make people stay on the move. The fact of it is we are all on death-row.”
“Support is again growing for Mumia. It's good seeing people come out asking what can collectively be done to free him,” said Ralph Poynter, husband of jailed activist attorney Lynne Stewart. “Lynne says that Mumia is the point person—his life is on the line now—her life is on the line tomorrow,” Mr. Poynter added.
Radio Interviews with Chapel Hill Prison Books Collective, Denver ABC and UnmaskNWDC
Interviews recorded at Free Radio Olympia by DJ Questionmark on April 18, 2011
Interview with Chapel Hill Prison Books Collective
21 mins 20 seconds MP3 (18.5 mb)
Download at: 114 http://www.indybay.org/uploads/2011/04/19/chalephillprisonbooks041811.mp3
Interview with Monica of the Chapel Hill, NC Prison Books Collective. Monica talks about prison abolition and restorative justice as alternatives to the prison system. She describes the collective's effort to send books and zines to prisoners in the Southeast US, political prisoner writing nights and maintaining a zine catalog of radical literature. The group publishes monthly political prisoner birthday posters for over a year that are free on the internet to download. The posters encourage people to write to political prisoners on their birthday. The collective also actively supports prisoners organizing in North Carolina and reports on solidarity efforts.
For more information visit http://prisonbooks.info
Interview with Denver Anarchist Black Cross
12 mins 45 Seconds MP3 audio
Download at: http://www.indybay.org/uploads/2011/04/18/dabc041811.mp3
Interview with Whitney from Denver Anarchist Black Cross about the group, movement defense and the many mutual aid programs they have started. Whitney talks about the updated political prisoner database, the war chest program that raises funds for political prisoner's basic needs, the mutual aid fund where local people get emergency loans for basic needs, the Nurturing Liberation program that provides free childcare, political prisoner writing nights and more.
Whitney elaborates on movement defense by commenting on internal and external repression. How opposing snitch-jacketing and shit talking within the movement is part of fighting government repression and supporting political prisoners and people targeted by the state.
Denver Anarchist Black Cross is organizing a nation-wide conference in August 2011.
Radio Interview on the North West Detention Center
Interview with Francine and Clere about the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma WA. They talk about the private immigration center as a source of revenue for the city and profits for private investors. They also talk about how current immigration policy detains people not convicted of a crime. Resisting the detention center, they explain, is part of a greater struggle to abolish national boundaries and prisons.
A conference called "No Border! No Nation! Stop Deportation!" happens Saturday April 23 in Tacoma.
Visit https://unmasknwdc.wordpress.com for more info.
Download at: http://www.indybay.org/uploads/2011/04/18/nwdc041811ed.mp3
About UnmaskNWDC from the blog:
115 One of the three largest private immigration detention centers in the United States sits hidden amongst warehouses and parking lots in the port of Tacoma, WA. This Northwest Detention Center, owned and operated by GEO Group, began detaining undocumented people in 2004. This year the NWDC expanded their facility, with the go-ahead from the City of Tacoma, and can now detain 1500 people at any given time. This facility detains your neighbors, co-workers, family members and friends. The large majority of the folks being detained at this facility have never been convicted of a crime. They have come to this country to escape poverty and persecution. They have come here as a means to trying to provide better lives for themselves and their families. The company that owns the Northwest Detention Center, GEO Group, makes a profit off of the detainment and deportation of people. The City of Tacoma, Pierce County, Washington State and the federal government benefit financially off of this facility. This company and these governmental bodies perceive the people being held at the NWDC as commodity. When the motives behind oppressive and exploitative acts are exposed, they can no longer be normalized. We can begin to draw connections and make black and white what was formally gray. No longer can we hope that the government will seize current immigration policies or that the city will shut down the Northwest Detention Center. The hope is that this blog will provide an avenue to unmask these unforgivable truths and shed light on the fact that we cannot sit back and wait for those who oppress to do what we must do ourselves. These matters are in our own hands; it is our responsibility to act.
Unlawful arrests and beatings in Khimki Forest
Dear Sir/Madam,
I would like to update you about the last events in Khimki Forest
Today, activists got the info that large-scale cutting down of trees in the forest resumed - despite statements of Russian company Avtodor that all the works are confined to taking away the trees that was fallen this summer. Activists of Save Khimki Forest Movement arrived at site and found clearing in process guarded by police and security forces.
The perpetrators of cutting down of trees failed to provide any permissions for this work. Nevertheless, police threatened to arrest activists in case they didn't leave the scene.
Of course, they didn't. Police attacked activists, some of them were beaten and handcuffed. 10 persons were arrested, including Evgenia Chirikova and Yaroslav Nikitenko.
The arrested persons are now imprisoned in Khimki Police Station (Khimki, Kudriavtseva str., 4). They are threatened in a very brutal way, even denied to sit down. Evgenia Chirikova wrote to her twitter that she was undressed and searched by police, now the contact with her was lost, perhaps her mobile phone was taken away. Phone numbers of Khimki Police are:
+7 (495) 572-02-02
116 +7 (495) 573-37-10
+7 (495) 573-34-56
+7 (495) 573-02-02
+7 (498) 691-31-99
Save Khimki Forest Movement asks you to do everything you can to release all the activists and save the Khimki Forest.
We also demand French company Vinci to leave the dirty project immediately.
On behalf of Save Khimki Forest Movement
Mikhail Matveev
After 129 days of struggle, riot police are forced to withdraw from Keratea
April 18, 2011 Occupied London
As announced a few hours ago, the ministry of citizen protection announced its plan to withdraw all police forces from Ovriokastro and Keratea. It has also been decided that the construction machinery will be withdrawn from the area and that the ministry of environment will enter into negotiations with the municipality.
At 17.08 GMT+2, the largest part of the riot police forces had withdrawn from Keratea.
There is a feeling of victory running across the barricades of Keratea as the police buses leave. Is this a victory for the people of Keratea? Or a tactical move on the side of the government, ahead of the easter break?
More information as it comes.
3 killed at Syrian protest after Assad vows reform
Two Stories:
3 killed at Syrian protest after Assad vows reform Mass protests in Yemen over leader's women remark
3 killed at Syrian protest after Assad vows reform
By ZEINA KARAM, Associated Press Apr 17, 2011
BEIRUT – Gunmen opened fire during a funeral for a slain anti-government protester Sunday, killing at least three people on a day when tens of thousands of people took to the streets nationwide as part of an uprising against the country's 117 authoritarian regime, witnesses and activists said.
It was not immediately clear who was behind the shooting at the funeral near Homs, 100 miles (160 kilometers) from the capital, Damascus.
In the past four weeks, Syrian security forces in uniforms and plainclothes have launched a deadly crackdown on demonstrations, killing at least 200 people, according to human rights groups. The government has blamed armed gangs looking to stir up unrest for many of the killings.
One witness said gunmen wearing black clothes opened fire at hundreds of people in the Talbiseh district in central Syria at a funeral for a protester who was killed Saturday. Other witnesses said they saw soldiers and security forces open fire, shooting even at homes and balconies. Dozens were wounded, they said.
A human rights activist in Damascus confirmed the three deaths, but said he had no information on who killed them. He confirmed the deaths through witnesses on the ground who saw the killings and gave him the names of the dead.
The witnesses and the activist requested anonymity for fear of reprisals from the government.
Syria's state-run news agency later said one policeman was killed and 11 other policemen and security personnel were wounded when an "armed criminal gang" opened fire on them in Talbiseh. It said the gang opened fire randomly, shutting down main streets and terrorizing residents.
The killings were bound to increase pressure on President Bashar Assad, who has tried to quell the popular uprising with a mixture of brute force and concessions.
On Saturday, he promised to end nearly 50 years of emergency rule this week, a key demand of the protesters.
But despite Assad's promises, the protest movement has grown and become much bolder. Many protesters say they will settle for nothing less than the downfall of the regime, driven by outrage over the crackdown.
On Sunday, tens of thousands of people waving Syrian flags and shouting "We want freedom!" took to the streets across Syria, brushing off Assad's attempts to calm things down.
"It's too late for their promises," said Bayan Bayati, a 22-year-old Arabic literature student who was among 20,000 people who turned out Sunday in the town of Banias. Other large gatherings were reported in the southern city of Daraa, which has become an epicenter of the movement, and the suburbs of Damascus.
The witness accounts could not be independently confirmed because Syria has placed tight restrictions on media outlets and expelled foreign journalists.
Threats to Assad's iron rule would have major regional repercussions, jeopardizing a key component to Iran's sphere of influence in the Middle East. The two countries work together to arm the Shiite militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Palestinian territories — groups considered terrorists by Israel and the United States.
118 There also are some fears in the region, particularly from Sunni counterweight Saudi Arabia, that Iran is quietly backing Shiite-led protest movements across the region, in places such as Bahrain and Yemen.
The Obama administration said last week that Iran appears to be helping Syria crack down on protesters, calling it a troubling example of Iranian meddling in the region. Syria denied the charge.
Assad said Saturday the emergency laws will be lifted this coming week, a key demand of protesters. Syria's widely despised emergency laws have been in place since the ruling Baath Party came to power in 1963, giving the regime a free hand to arrest people without charge and extending state authority into virtually every aspect of life.
But he warned there will no longer be "an excuse" for organizing protests once Syria lifts emergency rule and implements reforms, which he said will include a new law allowing the formation of political parties.
Sunday's protests suggest his gestures have fallen short of satisfying the growing demands. There was also concern that Assad will replace the emergency laws with equally harsh restrictions on public expression.
The biggest demonstrations in Syria on Sunday were in Daraa and the coastal town of Banias.
Witnesses reached by telephone said tens of thousands of people were marching in Daraa, shouting "Whoever kills his own people is a traitor!" Others shouted "The people want to topple the regime," which was the rallying cry during protests in Egypt and Tunisia that ousted the countries' longtime leaders.
In Banias, witnesses said up to 20,000 people took to the streets, outraged over a raid by security forces last week and the brief detention of hundreds of its young men. At least five people were killed in the violence.
"They have humiliated us. They took away our men," said Bayati, the literature student. She said the bullets used on protesters would have been better used to "liberate the Golan Heights" — which Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast War.
In the town of Suweida, near Daraa, security forces beat protesters with batons, injuring several of them. The gathering drew about 300 people, witnesses said. Activists also said a large demonstration was taking place in the Damascus suburb of Douma, but calls to the town were not going through.
The demonstrations come despite promises by Assad to end the widely despised state of emergency rule by next week at the latest, and implement other reforms.
But he coupled his concession with a stern warning that further unrest will be considered sabotage.
Assad says armed gangs and a "foreign conspiracy" are behind the unrest, not true reform-seekers.
Mass protests in Yemen over leader's women remark
By AHMED AL-HAJ, Associated Press Apr 17, 2011
119 SANAA, Yemen – Security forces fired on anti-government protesters in Yemen's capital Sunday as hundreds of thousands of marchers — including many women — packed cities around the country to denounce the president and remarks he made against women taking part in rallies demanding his ouster.
The massive turnout suggests opposition forces have been able to tap into fresh outrage against Ali Abdullah Saleh after his comments Friday that mingling of men and women at protests violated Islamic law.
Meanwhile, representatives from Yemen's opposition held talks with regional mediators in the Saudi capital Sunday to discuss a proposal by the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council for ending the unrest in which Saleh would transfer power to his deputy.
The Yemeni opposition says nothing short of Saleh's immediate departure would end the unrest in the impoverished Gulf nation at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula. The GCC proposal also offers the president immunity from prosecution, which the opposition rejected.
Security forces opened fire on protesters in the capital on Sunday as marchers neared the office of the special forces, headed by Saleh's son. Witnesses said the forces fired live ammunition, and used tear gas and water cannons to disperse the crowd. Security agents chased protesters in side streets.
Mohammed el-Abahi, the head doctor at the protesters' field hospital, said at least 220 people were wounded, including 20 people hit by gunfire.
Witnesses said ambulances were prevented by security forces from reaching some of the wounded, many of whom were taken to a mosque.
Abdul-Malek al-Youssefi, an activist and a protest organizer, said the latest protest wave could well be "the last nail in Saleh's coffin."
A youth movement leading the anti-Salah protests called for mass demonstrations Sunday, dubbed a day of "honor and dignity" that brought out a strong outpouring of women upset at the president's comments on Friday.
"He aimed to provoke families and the society," said Arwa Shaher, a female activist. "But it has only increased our resolve to pursue the people's demands to ensure that this man, who is losing his mind day by day, goes."
A young woman first led anti-Saleh demonstrations on a university campus in late January, but women didn't begin taking part in large numbers until early March. It was a startling step in a nation with deeply conservative social and Islamic traditions.
But Saleh has clung to power despite the near-daily protests and defections by key allies in the military, powerful tribes and diplomatic corps amid calls to fight poverty and open up the country's restricted political life.
Security forces have launched fierce attacks on anti-government marches to try to protect Saleh's 32-year autocratic rule. Yemeni rights groups said the crackdown has killed more than 120 people, but it has not deterred crowds from gathering.
In the southern city of Damar, at least 18 people were injured in clashes with police and security agents after they fired tear gas, said medical officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because of fears of backlash from authorities. An 120 activist in the city, Abdul-Rahman Ahmed, said shots were heard but it was unclear whether it was rubber bullets or live ammunition.
Elsewhere, more than 100,000 people took to the streets in Taiz, a hotbed of protests, and large demonstrations were mounted in the port of Aden and other cities.
Many saw Saleh's comments on women as an offense because they questioned women's honor and invoked religious tradition in an attempt to stem political outrage.
On Sunday, Saleh was shown on television meeting with dozens of women. He told them: "We don't doubt our daughters, or mothers or sisters. These women are dearer and more honorable than to be offended."
Saleh explained that what he said about mixing of the genders was out of fear that "mobs" would attack them.
Many Yemeni women remain out of sight and conceal themselves in public under black head-to-toe robes. The issue of child brides in Yemen has also drawn international criticism. But unlike in neighboring Saudi Arabia, women in Yemen are permitted to vote, run for parliament and drive cars.
Advocacy for women's rights in Yemen is rooted in the 1967-1990 period when the once-independent south had a socialist government. After unification, women in the south became more marginalized, resulting in high unemployment among female university graduates.
Political Prisoners, Isolation and Toture in America May 1st Phily
Time Sunday, May 1 · 2:00pm - 5:00pm
Location
The Moonstone Arts Center
110A S. 13th St Philadelphia, PA
More Info
Sunday May 1: RED INK: MAY DAY – 2PM
Moonstone Arts Center 110A S. 13th St Philadelphia, Pa 19107 ...215-735-9600
Political Prisoners, Isolation & Torture in America
Film, Discussion & Exhibit of Collages by Ojore Lutalo
With Hikim Green, Bonnie Kerness, Ojore Lutalo & TJ Whitaker
Hakim "Hak" Green is Hip-Hop. He uses it to address the ills affecting black culture and he founded the For Life Initiative, a non-profit that promotes Hip-Hop as a positive lifestyle. Hakim has recorded albums with Channel Live, lectured for Human Education Against Lies (H.E.A.L.), Stop the Violence Movements, and the 121 International Youth Organization.
Bonnie Kerness serves as Coordinator of the AFSC’s Prison Watch Project and has worked as a human rights advocate in US prisons with a focus on torture, isolation(no touch torture), and use of devices of torture in US prisons. She contributed to Our Children’s House (testimonies on juvenile imprisonment); Torture in US Prisons(Evidence of US Human Rights Violations); The Prison Inside the Prison (Control Units, Supermax Prisons and Devices of Torture), and other publications. She speaks widely on human rights violations of United Nations Covenants in US prisons.
Ojore Lutalo is a former New Afrikan Anarchist political prisoner who served 28 years in prison for clandestine activities during the 1970’s and 1980’s. 22 of those years were in isolation in the Management Control Unit at New Jersey State Prison, for entertaining thoughts that the NJ Department of Corrections/Homeland Security didn’t approve of. During this time Ojore created collages of political and social commentary on the neo-slavery of US prisons.
T.J. Whitaker is the National Secretary and a New Jersey representative for the Jericho Movement, a national organization dedicated to raising awareness and support for U.S. Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War. He is currently completing his PhD in Global Affairs at Rutgers University, Newark, where his research focuses on human rights violations of political activists.
ARM THE SPIRIT: A Woman's Journey Underground and Back
Time
Friday, May 6 · 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Location
The Union Project
801 North Negley Ave Pittsburgh, PA
More Info
Diana Block and her family lived and worked underground in Pittsburgh. In June of 1985, Diana and her two-week old son and five companions-all of them active in the struggle for independence-fled L.A. after finding a surveillance device in their car.
Her recent memoir explores this history and brings a feminist perspective to a subject typically dominated by heroic, male discourse and offers unique insights into the radical politics and culture of the 1970s.
Diana will read selections from her book, discuss her years in Pittsburgh and her recent work with women prisoners.
Refreshments will be provided.
Sponsored by Human Rights Coalition-Fed Up! The Pittsburgh Organizing Group
122 Scott Sisters Speak in Brooklyn!!
Time
Saturday, April 23 · 1:00pm - 3:00pm
Location
Restoration Plaza - First Floor 1368 Fulton Street
Monifa Bandele, Lumumba Bandele, Zakia Lorraine
More Info
Malcolm X Grassroots Movement and the National Conference of Black Lawyers will host a Community Forum and Call to Action for the Scott Sisters.
Hosted by: April Silver of Akila Worksongs
Speakers: Jamie and Gladys Scott - LIVE via teleconference Chokwe Lumumba - Attorney for the Scott Sisters Michael Tarif Warren - Attorney for the Central Park 5 Marc Lamont Hill - TVOne, CNN, MSNBC Rukia Lumumba
For more information: Lalit Clarkson at 917.468.7348 [email protected] http://freethescottsisters.blogspot.com/search/label/Videos
Communiqué from Stefania and Anna, two of the comrades arrested in Bologna on April 6 2011
April 17, 2011 by Gabriella Segata Antolini War on Society letter from two comrades in the Fuoriluogo case. Source: actforfreedomnow
To all delinquents who have expressed solidarity
Solidarity has come strong and abundant with letters and telegrams, which have been so numerous to make the guards go into a tailspin, and some were even sent by registered post to make sure they arrived. This really warms up our heart.
The charge for those arrested, for those subjected to restrictions and for all the comrades investigated is ‘organized crime’.
Already used against the comrades in Lecce as a more appropriate charge compared to that of ‘subversive association’ and also employed in other legal procedures as in a case in Turin, now even the Digos of Bologna have pulled it out of their hat to hit at their nightmare in town. But the Bologna Digos have added something of their own and have said ‘with aims of subversion’.
After describing Fuoriluogo as a site where numerous internal and overseas 123 initiatives are organized and depicting the link between us as strong and intense, they list a long series of ‘illegal activities’ carried out singularly or collectively, which are nothing more than well known penal procedures under way, where some of us have already been put on trial and paid a high price and others will be in the future. They are charges of resistance, damages, private violence, non authorized demos etc etc. The usual charges that weight on those who carry out struggles that disturb power.
From all this to the charge of ‘organized crime’ the reasoning becomes obscure, the noise of the crack on the mirror can be heard. But that’s it. Once they have built their structure, even if it is groundless and absurd, it will be up to us to dismantle it. So they do and so it is. Then, once again they have talked of leaders, vice-leaders and soldiers. They always try this path because it is their way to hit and because they really cannot understand that people can have different kinds of relationships. They want ‘to demonstrate’ that there is a leader because the comrade in question [Stefania, translator’s note] is very much involved in gathering data to be exposed in leaflets and to be used for the success of initiatives. During a telephone conversation with a comrade who found it hard to be present at a demo due to money problems, this comrade identified as ‘leader’ encouraged him to be present anyway by saying to him: ‘Come on, we will find the money, someone will provide it’ – of course by making recourse to her usual way of speaking that many know.
In short, a series of well known episodes and phone tagging like that just mentioned constitute the plot of the Bologna Digos, supported by a public prosecutor with some pebbles in her shoes.
We two in the female wing are okay. We are still separate and in isolation. We receive mail but maybe not all of it.
We send you a big hug and we keep on struggling with you for a world without fences, be them material or generated by induced fear and shabbiness. Without servants or bosses with their infamy and harmfulness.
We will be together soon but, as someone said in a telegram, if it is us to reach you it will be better.
Stefi and Anna
Two weeks until Daniel McGowan's birthday!
124 Hi friends,
Just a quick reminder to get your cards in the mail over the next few days for Daniel's birthday on Monday, May 2. Please send cards and letters to:
Daniel McGowan #63794-053 FCI Terre Haute - CMU P.O. Box 33 Terre Haute, IN 47808
As always... Be mindful of what you write. All mail is read, copied and scanned by BoP staff and people who monitor all CMU prisoner communications. Please do not write to Daniel about anything that can be construed by prison staff as 'violent' or misinterpreted as code. IMPORTANT: If you are on probation, parole, house arrest, subpoenaed to a grand jury, indicted yourself OR ARE CURRENTLY IN THE PRISON SYSTEM - please do NOT write to Daniel.
Please send no more than 20 pages of printed materials per envelope.
Sending Pictures
If you'd like to send pictures, he is allowed to receive up to 25 photos per envelope - no polaroids.
Sending Books
If you are interested in sending Daniel a book, please instead donate that money via paypal here: http://bit.ly/gU8SkM
Since Daniel can only keep a few books in his cell at a time, there have been times that he has had to return books to the sender as he was over the limit. As thoughtful as the intentions are, sending books unsolicited sometimes causes more trouble than it's worth.
If you would like to donate money to go specifically towards books for Daniel's birthday, feel free to email us or leave a note in paypal and we'll let Daniel know.
Thanks so much!Family and Friends of Daniel McGowan
The rejection of the identity of victimization through cracking a Nazi's skull
-by a bitch ass faggot Anti-Racist Action April 15, 2011
On Friday, April 15th, 2011 some anti-fascist in Anti-Racist Action learned of the location of the National Socialist Movement's national conference for rank promotion and five-year planning. A group of 30 of us decided to march to where the Nazi's were strongest, to bodily and boldly confront them, and we were decidedly victorious. After the the dust settled six Nazis were hospitalized, more were injured, their vehicles and property were damaged, and their conference was ended. On the other side, one anti-fascist required moderate first aid.
Many of us at the melee were people of color, working class, immigrants, women, queer, transgendered, and/or people on parole or probation. The logic of the victim is constantly thrust upon us. We are said to be 'at risk' and must be protected and pandered to. It is said that we need others, 125 usually the State, to protect and stand up for us. But, through the action of splitting Nazis' heads open, we rejected the logic of victimization. We will continue to do so, we will be victims no longer. We do not need others to stand up for us, we have each other. When we are attacked, we will find each other and counterattack, so hard and so fierce that we will surprise even ourselves.
If the Nazis call us bitch ass faggots, they might not be that far off the mark. But if they conflate those slurs with weakness, the six hospital visits they faced would prove otherwise.
On Palestinian Prisoners' Day, Support Palestinian Prisoners' Struggle for Freedom!
April 17, 2011 freeahmadsaadat.org
On Palestinian Prisoners' Day, April 17, 2011, the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat salutes all of the over 5,700 Palestinian prisoners inside the Israeli occupation's jails, and calls upon all those concerned for justice and freedom to join and build the largest possible international movement to secure the freedom of all Palestinian prisoners, and of the entire Palestinian people.
Palestinian prisoners have always stood as the backbone of the Palestinian national movement. Their continued steadfastness in the face of torture, isolation, denial of medical care and family visits, and their continual willingness to confront the occupation, engaging in hunger strikes and protests and demanding their rights, is an inspiration to all.
In moments of Palestinian national division or despair, the voice of prisoners has remained a clarion call and a beacon: an example of national unity, forged in struggle, and full commitment not only to the liberation of all Palestinian prisoners, but also to the liberation of Palestine, to the resistance, to self-determination, to freedom, to the return of Palestinian refugees. The valiant struggle of Palestine's political prisoners is central to the Palestinian movement for national liberation; it is the struggle of the Palestinian people. 126 We also note today the Palestinian and Arab political prisoners held in jails around the world, many for their own support of the Palestinian struggle and the Palestinian cause, and call for the freedom of all of those prisoners, and of all political prisoners in the jails of their oppressors around the world. We demand that governments end their investigations of and repression against activists supporting Palestine - from the U.S., where 23 activists face grand jury subpoenas and FBI raids for their public activity in support of Palestine, to France, where boycott, divestment and sanctions activists have been threatened with charges for boycotting Israeli goods, to Argentina, where an activist was arrested for organizing a Nakba commemoration - to everywhere around the world. Instead of attempting to suppress and silence voices of justice and solidarity, these governments must act to end their complicity and support for Israeli war crimes and occupation against the Palestinian people.
On Palestinian Prisoners' Day, we urge the new Egypt to mark this day by releasing all remaining Palestinian prisoners in Egyptian jails. We greet the Arab popular movements with solidarity and call for the freedom of all Arab political prisoners in Arab jails.
Furthermore, we also spotlight today the village of Awarta, which has been subject to closure, home invasions, mass kidnappings, detentions, forced DNA testing of hundreds of women, lengthy imprisonment of children, and interrogation of thousands of Palestinians. Awarta is under siege, and we stand today with the people of Awarta subject to massive and arbitrary detention and call for international attention and solidarity with the people of Awarta.
We also stand with the people of Gaza struggling to break their own siege, and note that Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails from Gaza have been denied family visits for years. We demand an end to the siege of Gaza and the siege of its prisoners!
For two years, Ahmad Sa'adat, the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, has been held in isolation in the occupation prisons. He has been regularly regularly denied family visits, denied access to books or reading mateial, and denied basic exercise and medical care. Sa'adat was kidnapped by the Israeli occupation army on March 14, 2006 from where he and his comrades, Ahed Abu Ghoulmeh, Majdi Rimawi, Basil al-Asmar, and Hamdi Qur'an, were imprisoned in the Palestinian Authority's Jericho Prison under U.S. and British guards. The U.S. and British guards removed themselves immediately prior to the Israeli attack, making clear that the U.S. and the U.K. were directly complicit in the attack on Jericho. Sa'adat, the leader of a major Palestinian political party and an elected member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, had been held in Israeli prisons for nearly six years at various times, held repeatedly in "administrative detention," where Palestinians are held without charge or trial under secret evidence. He was held in PA prisons for four years before his kidnapping and has now been held in the occupation's prisons for five years.
Ahmad Sa'adat is not only a national leader of the Palestinian people, he is a recognized leader and symbol of the Palestinian prisoners' movement - a symbol of steadfastness and commitment to Palestine and its people in the face of all forms of abuse and violation. And it is because Sa'adat represents that voice - the voice of the prisoners - that he has been placed in isolation, in an attempt to silence not only Sa'adat himself, but the Palestinian prisoners' movement, and through that, the conscience of the Palestinian revolution.
However, neither Ahmad Sa'adat, nor the Palestinian prisoners, nor the Palestinian people, have been compelled into silence or submission by isolation and torture. Rather, their voice is heard, more clearly than ever, calling for justice, freedom, and liberation. Today, and every day, we stand beside Ahmad 127 Sa'adat and the prisoners of freedom, and encourage all around the world to join us in building the call to free Ahmad Sa'adat and all Palestinian prisoners!
On Palestinian Prisoners' Day, please write us at [email protected] to inform us about actions or events in support of Palestinian political prisoners. We encourage you to hold educational events, demonstrations and activities in support of Palestinian prisoners and distribute information about Ahmad Sa'adat, Palestinian prisoners, and the Palestinian cause.
Why you should support black PP/POWs and How
Greetings Everyone,
My name is Sundiata Acoli (Soon-dee-AH'-tah Ah-COH'-lee). I'm a former member of the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army (BPP/BLA) who was captured on the New Jersey Turnpike in 1973 and am now a Black Political Prisoner and Prisoner of War (PP/POW) who's been held by the government for the last 37 years.
So why should you care about any of this or particularly, why should you support Black PP/POWs? Well, maybe you shouldn't. If you're happy with the way the US, and the world is going ~ and if you want to see the US, and the West continue to dominate and oppress the rest of the world ~ then you shouldn't support Black PP/POWs. If you want to see one country, or one race or the capitalist system continue to dominate other countries, other races and the world, then you shouldn't support Black PP/POWs. And if you, yourself, are about trying to dominate, manipulate or exploit other peoples, and organizations for personal benefit then you definitely shouldn't support black PP/POWs, or any other revolutionary PP/POWs, because we're about ending racism in all its forms and wherever it exists, plus we're about ending capitalism, sexism and all unjust oppressions of people and life in general on earth and throughout the universe.
Now if you can relate to that ~ and are about freedom, equality, human rights and self-determination for all people; creating a non-exploitative, non-oppressive society and economic system; making the world a better place and living in harmony with other people, the environment and the universe ~ then you should support Black PP/POWs cause that's what we're about and have been about for generations, centuries and millenniums. But mostly you should support Black PP/POWs, and all revolutionary PP/POWs, because it's the right thing to do.
And last, how should you support them? Well, you should support Black and all PP/POWs by supporting organizations that support them and by contacting PP/POWs individually to ask how you can best support them.
~End~
How you can support Sundiata Acoli
Contact the Sundiata Acoli Freedom Campaign at mailto:[email protected], http://www.sundiataacoli.org/
Contact Sundiata: 128 Acoli, Sundiata #39794-066 FCI Otisville, P.O. Box 1000, Otisville, NY 10963 Birthday: January 14, 1937
Sundiata is also receiving support from the Jericho Amnesty Movement http://thejerichomovement.com> http://prisonactivist.org/jericho_sfbay and from the Anarchist Black Cross Federation. http://www.abcf.net/ and Malcolm X Commemoration Committee http://malcolmxcommemorationcommittee.com/ also the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement http://mxgm.org
Anarchist on trial
Ryan Rainville admits to smashing police cars at the G20, but says he never intended to hurt anyone.
By Ava Baccari Now Magazine April 14, 2011
On trial for his actions during the G20 summit last June, Ryan Rainville told an Old City Hall courtroom Tuesday that he hadn’t originally intended to inflict damage on property during the fateful march Saturday, June 26.
Rainville, who has roots in the Saskatchewan’s Sakimay Nation but lives in Waterloo, was one of the eight people included on the infamous most wanted list Toronto Police released following the G20 and is facing charges of obstructing a peace officer and assault.
A self-described anarchist, Rainville was one of only six people who were spent three months at Maplehurst Correctional Complex in Milton following his arrest in August and is alleged to be part of the group of protestors who dressed in black clothing and employed Black Bloc tactics during the riots that erupted at the summit, smashing windows and attacking police cruisers.
Dressed in a collared shirt and sporting a grown-out Mohawk hairstyle, Rainville testified that on the Saturday in question he saw a man lunge on the windshield of a police car parked near Queen and Spadina. Rainville approached the vehicle, he said, and made two strikes against the 129 passenger’s side of the windshield with a flagpole he had been handed when he joined the march at Dundas and University.
Speaking to a courtroom packed with supporters who made several outbursts throughout the proceedings, Rainville said that when he noticed the bright yellow jacket of the officer inside the car he pulled away from the vehicle and slipped back into the sea of protestors continuing east towards Bay Street. He claimed that if he had known there was someone inside the car he wouldn’t have attacked it, explaining that he ensured two cruisers he attacked later in the day were empty.
As Rainville moved with the crowd heading south on Bay, he said he picked up a hammer that was lodged in a broken window at the BMO Bank of Montreal on King and plunged it into the emergency lights and rear window of police vehicle parked at the intersection. He then says he smashed the windshield of an unmarked police car nearby.
As his mother watched intently from the front row of the courtroom, occasionally locking eyes with her son in the witness stand, the soft-spoken Rainville told the court that he’s not opposed to acts of vandalism as a form of protest “as long as no harm is done to human or animal life.”
Crown Attorney Elizabeth Nadeau passed photos around the courtroom of a man dressed in grey track pants, with a black bag slung over his back and a red flag draping his shoulders, hovering near a police vehicle. The same man is pictured smashing the rear window of another cruiser parked near King and Bay streets.
Det. William McGarry, part of the G20 Investigative Unit, identified the man as Rainville, using separate photos of him taken at events during the week leading up the G20.
McGarry played video footage showing attacks made on three separate police vehicles with the man identified as Rainville engaging in destruction at each scene. In most of the photos, the man conceals his face with a black T-shirt.
Staff Sgt. Graham Queen, the officer in the first vehicle Rainville allegedly attacked at Queen and Spadina, testified that he was trailing the largely peaceful throng of 10, 000 protestors when he noticed the flow of the crowd heading west along Queen Street sharply turning back. When he jumped into his squad car to pull back and create more space for the fast-approaching protestors, he said three men dressed in black, their faces covered, swarmed the parked vehicle.
One pounced on the windshield, Queen testified, causing it to partially collapse, as the officer slunk low in his seat. Shards of shattered glass rained down as two men, one of them allegedly Rainville, smashed the side windows with wooden poles. Queen says he was struck on the head as another man hollowed out the driver’s side window.
A member of the Toronto police force for 23 years, Queen said the experience was the “most frightened I’ve ever been as a police officer. There was nowhere for me to go. I felt trapped.”
He put out a distress call and within minutes, officers on foot patrol rushed to the vehicle, and one reached in to pull Queen out of the smashed car. He recalled the crowd quickly drawing near and chanting “Who’s 130 streets? Our streets!” while hurling rocks, apples, and what he believed to be urine at the baton-wielding officers.
The trial resumes May 31. Apr 14, 2011 at 12:07 AM
Tacoma Conference: No Border! No Nation! Stop Deportation!
Unmask NWDC April 5, 2011
The No Borders! No Nations! Conference is coming from a place of no compromise—we harbor no false hopes that the government will tear down its borders as much as we know the City of Tacoma will never shut down the Detention Center. This conference will be a space for dialog surrounding 131 common enemies: ICE, borders, deportation, raids, and detention centers; as well as common desires: the complete destruction of detention centers, end to raids and deportation, and end to all borders from a perspective of self-organization.
Presentation Topics: - U.S. Immigration Policies: Past & Current - Raids and Deportation - GEO Group / I.C.E. - Background & History of NWDC - Corporate Involvement
Speakers include individuals from groups such as El Comite, No More Deaths, and the Bill of Rights Def- ense Committee
SATURDAY APRIL 23rd 12 - 5pm
Location: King's Books 218 St Helens Avenue Tacoma, WA 98402
Poster: http://www.mediafire.com/i/?4fxs2vgq4j2mcbu
PDF for printing: http://www.mediafire.com/?t2d0l7cgh7v5p43 schedule for event TBA; check website for updates:
UNMASKNWDC.WORDPRESS.COM
Radio Interview With Susan Morales on the Struggle to Free Leonard Peltier by dj Questionmark Apr 12th, 2011 Indybay.org
Interview with long time indigenous activist Susan Morales on the struggle to free Leonard Peltier. A NW regional march and rally for Leonard Peltier will take place May 21, 2011 in Tacoma WA.
This interview was recorded at Free Radio Olympia on April 11, 2011 by dj Questionmark
Susan talks about the days of the Seattle AIM House and what Leonard was like before he was a political prisoner.
The audio is rough in the first 4 minutes. 132 Book Launch for Our Only Weapon Our Spirit
Thursday, May 5 · 7:00pm - 9:30pm
Location The Commons, Brooklyn 388 Atlantic Avenue
Please join us to commemorate the life of Bobby Sands and to celebrate the release of a new selection of his prison writing: Our Only Weapon Our Spirit. May 5th, 2011 marks the thirtieth year since Sands was legally killed by British intransigence. To remember his sacrifice and honor his struggle, we are releasing this new edition of his prison writing.
Our Only Weapon ...Our Spirit Selected Prison Writings of Bobby Sands edited by Samuel Conway and Patrick Stanley
From the Back Cover:
After sixty-six days on hunger strike, Bobby Sands was legally killed by British intransigence. He died resisting the claim that eight-hundred years of Irish rebel history had been purely illegitimate and criminal. He had been a volunteer of the Irish Republican Army, an Irish speaker, elected Member of Parliament and writer. Thirty years later, his legacy as a cultural figure, freedom fighter and writer continues to resonate with people struggling for freedom throughout the world.
This new selection of his prison writing commemorates his life and his legacy. We hope this book contributes to his vision of a just, united and free Ireland, and helps to sustain the liberation struggles of people world-wide.
All proceeds from the sale of this book go to the benefit of the wives, families and dependents of prisoners through the Bobby Sands Trust.
Political Prisoners on War Resisters & Honoring Mumia Abu Jamal's B-day
133 Time Saturday, April 23 · 7:30pm - 10:00pm
Location Sanctuary Wholistic Arts 2737 Cambridge Street Philadelphia, PA
April 23rd, at 7:30pm, the "Questioning Incarceration Coalition" would like to invite everyone to join us for a cultural event, with art, music, and poetry, that will focus on solidarity between US Political Prisoners, and War Resistors.
Statements will be read from the writings of political prisoners and former political prisoners such as: Marshall Eddie Conway Maroon Shoatz ...David Gilbert Mumia Abu Jamal Safiya Bukhari Lynne Stewart Women of the MOVE 9
Special Guests: Pam Africa from the ICFFMAJ and the MOVE organization, and Russell Maroon Shoatz III, speaking about his father, Political Prisoner Russell Maroon Shoatz
Also, Performances by Kevin Price, Bohiti, I Abdul Jon, Joseph Xavier Mack
**We will be honoring the birthday of death row political prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal. Mumia is on deathrow facing imminent execution and continues to report on international social justice issues. Mumia has been been writing in opposition to US led wars and occupations throughout and prior to his 1981 conviction.
***Saturday April 23rd, Sanctuary Wholistic Arts, 2737 Cambridge Street Philadelphia, PA --donations will be collected to help pay for the venue gases.
ORGANIZE 5/13 EVENTS TO RALLY AGAINST BOMBING AND MURDER OF MOVE FAMILY MEMBERS by Sis Marpessa on Wednesday, April 13, 2011
From: [email protected] Subj: May 13, 2011
ONA MOVE, All! As I'm sure you all are aware, May 13th is close at hand, and of course we never let it go by without reminding folks of the bombing and murder of our MOVE family that day in 1985. We plan to rally and distribute info/ updates on the four corners of Broad and Chestnut Sts. in Philly on Saturday May 14th from 12:00pm til 3:00pm. It's always good to get out there with the people to talk to them and pass out info. Also, I would really like to do a screening of the August 8th film on Friday evening May 13th so if any of our Philly supporters have ideas on a good place to do that please let me know ASAP. For our supporters outside of Philly, particularly those outside the country, I urge you to do something in your area. One of the things that we encourage you to do is a screening of the August
134 8th film. We have them available for $10.00 plus postage if you need to order it. Take care and hope to see you all in May---Ramona
A National Campaign to End Price Gouging on Prison Phone Rates
April 13, 2011 by Bruce Reilly Unprison.wordpress
Nationwide Research Finds Excessive Prison Phone Rates Exploit Prisoners’ Families
Brattleboro, VT – Prison Legal News (PLN), a monthly publication that covers criminal justice-related issues, released a report this past weekend at the National Conference for Media Reform in Boston that examines prison phone rates nationwide.
The report, based on several years of research that included submitting public records requests in all 50 states, found that prison phone companies routinely provide kickbacks – euphemistically known as “commissions” – to contracting government agencies, based on a percentage of the revenue earned from prisoners’ phone calls.
These kickbacks, which average 42% of gross revenue, generated over $152 million nationwide in 2007-2008. Since the vast majority of prisoners’ phone calls are paid by their families, either by accepting collect calls or by funding pre-paid or debit accounts, most of the kickback money comes from prisoners’ family members.
“This has been a major concern for prisoners’ families, who are unfairly exploited by telephone companies and the government agencies that receive kickbacks from those companies,” said PLN associate editor Alex Friedmann. “This is an issue of fundamental fairness.”
PLN found that 42 states accept kickback commissions from prison phone companies, which include Unisys, Securus and Global Tel*Link (partly owned by investment banking firm Goldman Sachs). In some cases the commissions exceed 60% of prison phone revenue.
According to the report, “prison phone companies don’t ‘compete’ in the usual sense. They don’t have to offer lower phone rates to match those of their competitors, as prison phone contracts typically are based on the highest commission paid, not the lowest phone rates. Free market com-petition is thus largely absent in the prison phone industry, at least from the perspective of the consumer – mainly prisoners’ families.”
The report notes that prison phone rates are arbitrary, with high rates in some states and lower rates in others, which “simply cannot be correlated to providing the same basic telephone service.” Prison phone rates fluctuate widely within the same state and among different states, even when the phone services are provided by the same company.
Colorado has the highest prison phone rate for local calls, at $2.75 + $.23/minute ($6.20 for a 15-minute local collect call). The highest intrastate phone rate is charged in Oregon, at $3.95 + $.69/ minute ($14.30 for a 15-minute collect call). Washington has the highest interstate rate: $4.95 + $.89/minute, or $18.30 for a 15-minute long distance collect call.
Eight states do not accept kickback commissions – Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, Michigan, South Carolina, Missouri and California (as of 2011). New Hampshire, Kansas and Arkansas have reduced their kickback commissions, while 135 Montana entered into a limited-commission contract in 2010.
Notably, PLN’s research provides “a before-and-after look at phone rates in several states that have banned, limited or reduced their kickback commissions.” When states forgo commissions, their phone rates drop significantly. For example, prison phone rates in New York dropped almost 69% when the state banned commission payments in 2008. In California, which finished phasing out prison phone kickbacks earlier this year, the rates declined by 61%. Prison phone rates decreased by 64.5% in Montana and 40% in Kansas after those states adopted lower commissions.
Thus, prison phone companies are able to offer lower rates but for having to pay kickbacks to the contracting government agencies. “This is gross profiteering at its worst,” noted PLN editor Paul Wright. “State officials are lining their pockets, to the tune of tens of millions of dollars, by fleecing prisoners’ families with exorbitant phone rates. Why? Simply because they can.”
The report notes that “there is a widely-known and researched correlation between prisoners who maintain contact with their families and those who are successful in staying out of prison after they are released,” which reduces recidivism. However, most states continue to accept kickbacks “at the expense of facilitating more affordable phone calls for prisoners and their families, and in spite of the societal benefits that would inure from lower phone rates.”
A rulemaking petition to regulate prison phone rates on the interstate level is pending before the FCC, but the FCC has taken no action on the petition since it was filed in 2003.
In conjunction with Thousand Kites, Prison Legal News has opened a phone line for members of the public to share their stories about excessive prison phone costs. The toll-free number, available 24/7, is 877-518-0606. Recorded stories can be heard at www.prisonphonejustice.org.
______
Prison Legal News (PLN) is a project of the Human Rights Defense Center. HRDC, founded in 1990 and based in Brattleboro, Vermont, is a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting human rights in U.S. detention facilities. HRDC publishes PLN, a monthly magazine that includes reports, reviews and analysis of court rulings and news related to prisoners’ rights and criminal justice issues. PLN has almost 7,000 subscribers nationwide and operates a website (www.prisonlegalnews.org) that includes a comprehensive database of prison and jail-related articles, news reports, court rulings, verdicts, settlements and related documents.
For further information, please contact:
Paul Wright Prison Legal News, Editor P.O. Box 2420 5331 Mt. View Rd. #130 West Brattleboro, VT 05303 (802) 257-1342 or (802) 275-8594 [email protected]
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136 April 14-21: International Week of Solidarity with the Imprisoned Chilean Anarchist Comrades!
April 12, 2011 Anarchist News
This April 14th to the 21st has been chosen as a week of agitation and propaganda for the immediate freedom of the 14 Chilean anarchists arrested on August 14th 2010. The arrests were a culmination of raids under what is being called the "Bombs Case". The arrestees are accused of placing or being implicit in dozen of bombs set off in the greater Santiago area for the past couple years. They are being charged under the dictatorship era Anti-Terrorist Law. They are charged with "illicit association" as well. Ten of the arrested comrades have been imprisoned since August 14th, culminating now to almost 8 months of jail time, also 9 of the 10 have been on hunger strike since February 21, 2011. The other comrade joined the hunger strike March 23rd. They have lost around 20 pounds each, the hunger strike is indefinite. The prosecutor is asking for sentences of 10 years, 15 years, to life imprisonment. The comrades have kept their heads held high inside prison agitating with their bodies and small acts of refusal, on the outside anarchists have continued the struggle and expressed multitudes of solidarity, internationally anarchists have responsed as well. This week will act as focal point for anarchist solidarities and a reminder of our comrades known and unknown locked up in the cages of democracy in Santiago. Those who forget the accused or the imprisoned of the struggle, forget the struggle itself.
Immediate freedom for the 14 compañerxs! Prisoners to the streets! THE PASSION FOR FREEDOM KNOWS NO BORDERS!!!
POSTERS in English, Español, Italiano, Français: http://libertadalos14a.blogspot.com/2011/04/solidaridad-en-todas-partes-...
Embassy:
1732 Massachusetts Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20036 (202) 785-1746
Consulates:
Los Angeles 1900 Avenue Of The Stars, Suite 2450, Los Angeles, CA 90067. (310) 785-0113, FAX (310) 785-0132
San Francisco 870 Market St., Suite 1062, San Francisco, CA 94102. (415) 982-7662, FAX (415) 982-2384
Miami 800 Brickell Av., Suite 1230, Miami, FL 33131. (305) 371-3219, FAX (305) 374-4270
Chicago Consul General: José Miguel Gonzalez 137 1415 N. Dayton Street, 2nd Fl Chicago, IL 60642 (312) 654-8780 , FAX (312) 654-8948
New York 866 United Nations Pz., New York, NY 10017. (212) 355-0612, FAX (212) 688-5879
Philadelphia Public Ledger Bldg., 446 6th & Chestnut, Philadelphia, PA 19106. (215) 829-9520, FAX (215) 829-0594
San Juan American Airlines Building, 1509 Lopez Landron., Suite 800, Santurce, Puerto Rico 00911. (809) 725-6365
Houston 1360 Post Oak Bl., Suite 1330, Houston, TX 77056. (713) 963-9066, FAX (713) 961-3910
LAN Airlines Offices*:
Los Angeles 1960 East Grand Avenue suite 530 El Segundo CA 90245 Los Angeles, United States
Miami Miami International Airport Concourse J - Level 2 Miami , Florida 33122.
New York ATO Terminal Número 4 Aeropuerto JFK New York, United States.
*LAN is a Chilean airplane company. The president of Chile owns a significant amount of the company.
More information: http://libertadalos14a.blogspot.com
5/1: Puerto Rican Contingent for May Day 2011!
NOW MORE THAN EVER, WE NEED TO BUILD A BROAD, STRONG AND UNITED PUERTO RICAN CONTINGENT FOR INTERNATIONAL WORKERS' MAY DAY 2011!
Sunday May 1st, 2011 at 12pm Union Square (14th st and broadway) Take the 4,5,6,N,Q, R, to Union Square
LOOK FOR THE PUERTO RICAN FLAGS! BRING YOUR OWN FLAG, PANDERETAS, NOISE MAKERS, AND WHISTLES!
138 We are calling for a Strong Powerful Puerto Rican Contingent to march in solidairty with all workers this May Day! Puerto Rican workers, both on the Island and throughout the Diaspora, have been fighting against privatization of education/social services, demanding new jobs, union rights, and housing; just like other workers' have throughout the United States, Latin America and the world!
FOR DECADES, Puerto Ricans have stood proudly and firmly with our undocumented brothers and sisters; demanding their legalization and an end to their harrassment!
Let us continue in our proud tradition of internationalist solidarity with the workers' of the world!
JOIN THE PUERTO RICAN CONTINGENT FOR MAY DAY 2011! EMAIL US AND LET US KNOW THAT YOU ARE JOINING OUR CONTINGENT: [email protected]
What happens when you uncover FBI infiltration?
BOOK READING AND LIVE DIALOGUE with Dominque Stevenson & Eddie Conway Friday, April 15, 12:30 p.m. @Southern California Library 6120 S. Vermont Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90044
A truly amazing, authentic African American history lesson. —Emory Douglas, Artist and former Minister of Culture, Black Panther Party
"Eddie Conway articulates past and present oppression and demonstrates the need for continuing resistance. Read him." —Bobby Seale, Founding Chairman of the Black Panther Party
Marshall "Eddie" Conway is a former member of the Baltimore chapter of the Black Panther Party. In 1969, he uncovered evidence of FBI actions against the Black Panther Party as part of the COINTELPRO initiative, and found himself locked away one year later, convicted of a murder he did not commit. Read more.... Dominque Demetrea Stevenson is the co-author of Marshall Law: The Life and Times of a Baltimore Black Panther, and the director of the American Friends Service Committee's Maryland Peace with Justice Program. Read more....
Copies of Marshall Law: The Life & Times of a Baltimore Black Panther will be available at the event. Download a flyer (PDF) For more info: www.socallib.org • facebook.com/socallib (323) 759-6063 139
The Library is located at 6120 S. Vermont Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90044 (off the 110 Freeway, exit Slauson or Gage).We're accessible by MTA Bus 204 and Express Bus 754. Street parking is available. Mapquest map and directions to the Library.
New Green-Scare Indictment over Sabotage of Logging Equipment in Michigan 10 Years Ago
April 12, 2011 Earth First! Newswire
A recent indictment order by Federal prosecutors in Grand Rapids Michigan has charged Jesse Waters, a Detroit area man, with damaging logging equipment and a flatbed trailer near Mesick, MI more than 10 years ago during an environmental campaign to halt deforestation.
The indictment further states that others painted the message “log in hell!” at the site of the incident.
Environmental activist, musician, and mother of 2, Marie Mason was also charged and convicted for her alleged role in the Mesick sabotage. She is currently serving 22 years in prison.
SUPPORT Bro. Mutulu Shakur Fundraising!
PLEASE SUPPORT! ------
Dear Comrades,
You the faithful have been Mutulu's life line, the wind beneath his wings
You as no other organized body have rescued him from the indignity of behind the walls slave labor
Because you have been there for him year after year.he has not had to compromise his principles for the sheer sake of surviving in captivity.
Without complaint you have generously given to his family when he could not
You have achieved many first, together we raised a record $18,000 for his legal defense
For your ongoing abiding loyalty Mutulu never fails to speaks of his everlasting gratitude and how he is humbled by your abiding love.
After many months of earned relief, from the stress of fund raising F/FMS proudly announces, AN OPPORTUNITY ONCE MORE TO DO THE RIGHT THING...... MUTULU NEEDS YOU!
AS OF MONDAY APRIL 5th, 2011 FAMILY & FRIENDS OF DR. MUTULU SHAKUR WILL NOW ACCEPT YOUR LONG AWAITED RENEWED FINANCIAL PLEDGES.
AS FOLLOWS;
AFRICAN ANGELS...... ABOVE $50 per Month (the sky is the limit)
COMRADES...... Only $1.66 per Day=$50 per month (less than the 140 NY New York times)
FRIENDS of F/FMS: Only 50 cents per Day=$15 per Month
ORGANIZERS who recruit donors for F/FMS (any of the above)
Note: (Marathoners) will pledge any of the above 4 quarters (Apr-Mar'12.) (Sprinters) will pledge any of the above 2 quarters (April-Sept'11)
Please note, no contribution, however small, will be returned to sender
PLEASE BE MINDFUL, COME HELL OR HIGH WATER WE HAVE A $220. MONTHLY OBLIGATION THAT MUST BE MET. that equals $2,640.00A Year.
FYI;as some of you know, we hired a new lawyer located in Colorado cutting expensive travel and hotel cost. However we had to put out a $2,000.00 lawyer's retainer fee in Feb.,'11 And an outstanding balance of an estimated $2,000.00 to be paid in May '11
MUTULU NEEDS YOU! Checks/money orders made out to "Family and Friends of Dr.MutuluShakur/ IFCO". Address: IFCO 418 W,145 st. NY.,NY. 10031
Please forward your stated financial committment to [email protected] ASAP
Mutulu's foe will give him hell, that he can rely on. But Mutulu's friends will give him financial support, that he can also rely on.
A hearty thanks for your pledge of support.
Best wishes to you and all of his steadfast supporters. We love you. forward ever, sid wilson
LEONARD PELTIER MEDICAL ALERT
From: LPDOC, Northwest Organizer's Office LEONARD PELTIER MEDICAL ALERT
"A man dies from prostate cancer every 16 minutes in this country. Why does my brother have to wait over a year to receive even a diagnosis?" Leonard Peltier's sister
Native American activist Leonard Peltier, who maintains his innocence, was wrongfully convicted in connection with the shooting deaths of two agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1977. Imprisoned for 35 years-currently at the federal prison in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania-Peltier has been designated a political prisoner by Amnesty International. Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, 55 Members of Congress and others-including a judge who sat as a member of the court in two of Peltier's appeals-have all called for his immediate release. Widely recognized for his humanitarian works and a six-time Nobel Prize nominee, Peltier also is an accomplished author and painter.
141 Sister Betty Solano says Peltier began exhibiting symptoms commonly attributed to prostate cancer over a year ago. His age (he is 66 years old) and family history are risk factors for the disease. Pressured by Peltier's attorneys, the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) ran standard blood tests in June. Peltier received the results last week, over four months later. A physician only now says a biopsy is needed to make a diagnosis. Prostate cancer affects 1 in 6 men in the United States. Medical experts agree that the cure rate for prostate cancer is high, but only if detected early. Even if Peltier doesn't have cancer, the symptoms indicate a serious medical condition and one that could lead to serious complications if left untreated. Please write letters to:
Sample letter:
Harley G. Lappin, Director U.S. Bureau of Prisons 320 First Street, NW Washington, DC 20534
Dear Mr. Lappin:
It has come to my attention that Leonard Peltier #89637-132, an inmate at the U.S. Penitentiary in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, is in dire need of medical attention.
I believe that Mr. Peltier's medical needs are urgent. He needs to be seen by proper medical staff. Therefore, I respectfully request that Leonard Peltier be transferred to FCI-Oxford in Wisconsin or FMC-Rochester in Minnesota. Either of these facilities can adequately accommodate Mr. Peltier's medical needs.
Thank you in advance for transferring Leonard Peltier and immediately addressing his medical needs!
Sincerely,
From: Leonard Peltier Defense/Offense Committee Northwest Regional Organizer's Office
P.O. Box 5464 Tacoma, WA 98415-0464 [email protected]
We greatly need donations of money or stamps for our mass mailing. The mailing includes information on the march, a background article on Leonard's case, information on the clemency campaign and a medical alert for Leonard. Any amount will help. Please make checks out to the Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee (marked for NW March) and send them to: Tacoma Chapter, LPDOC, P.O. Box 5464, Tacoma, WA 98415-0464. Thank you.
As individual fingers we can easily be broken, but all together we make a mighty fist. -- Sitting Bull
REGIONAL MARCH AND RALLY FOR CLEMENCY FOR LEONARD PELTIER
SATURDAY, MAY 21, 2011, TACOMA, WA.
12:00 NOON: MARCH FOR JUSTICE Portland Ave. Park (on Portland Ave. between 142 E. 35th & E. Fairbanks. Take Portland Ave. exit off I-5 and head east)
1:00 PM: RALLY FOR JUSTICE U.S. Federal Court House, 1717-Pacific Ave.
SPEAKERS:
Co-MCs Matilaja: Yu'Pik/Yakama, Tacoma Chapter LPDOC Steve Hapy: Tacoma Chapter LPDOC Drum Albert Combs: Coastal Salish drum song Keynote Speaker: Ramona Bennett: Puyallup Tribal Member, Long time Native Activist Dorothy Ackerman: Lakota Elder Chauncey Peltier: Son of Leonard Peltier Deeahop Conway, Tacoma Chapter LPDOC Peter Bohmer, long-term activist, member of Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace, and faculty at the Evergreen State College Juan Jose Bocanegra: Coordinator/Organizer, The Committee for Immigration Reform and Social Justice (El Comite Pro Reforma Migratoria y Justicia Social) David Duenas: Puyallup Arthur J. Miller: Northwest Regional Organizer LPDOC Michael One Road: Portland Chapter LPDOC
CAR POOLS: OLYMPIA: There will be a carpool leaving from the parking lot at Harrison and Division at 10:15 am. SEATTLE: Meet at the Red Apple parking lot at 23rd and Jackson. Will be leaving at 10:30 am.
AFTER RALLY MEAL AND GET TOGETHER: At past Tacoma Peltier Marches we have had an after rally meal and get together. We are trying to organize that again for this march. This is very important this time because we want to organize groups in different aspects of the clemency campaign. If you can help with this please let us know, send an e-mail to: [email protected] and this will be something we will need donations for. Please make checks out to the Leonard Peltier Defense/Offense Committee (ear marked Tacoma march) and send them to: Tacoma Chapter, LPDOC, P.O. Box 5464, Tacoma WA 98415-0464.
The flier and poster for the May 21st Leonard Peltier Regional Clemency March has been scanned and made into a pdf file that can be downloaded off the internet. This was done by an Olympia supporter. This is a good example of grassroots support. Thank you
Here's the link. poster: http://www.indybay.org/uploads/2011/04/07/leonard_peltier_rally.pdf
Flier http://www.indybay.org/uploads/2011/04/07/peltier_flier.pdf
This march will kick off our New Northwest Campaign for Clemency for Leonard Peltier. It will take time to build this campaign and we ask for your help. Leonard has been in prison since 1976 for a crime he did not commit. His health has gotten bad and he needs all of us now. We need people to pass this statement to their friends, groups, organizations, publications, web sites and Facebook. We need people to post and pass out fliers. We need donations. We need to make this march as large as possible to show 143 others that there is support for Leonard Peltier. Please help us. Please contact us if you can help. For donations: Please make checks out to the Leonard Peltier Defense/Offense Committee (mark them for NW March) and send them to: Tacoma LPODC, P.O. Box 5464, Tacoma, WA 98415. Thank you
Join Tacoma LPDOC on facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/profile.php?id=100002154914197
Leonard Peltier Clemency Information Packet
144
An 8 page mail out about Leonard Peltier's Clemency Campaign
Here is the link to the page the info packet is on: http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/04/11/18676900.php 145
Here is a link to the info packet itself: http://www.indybay.org/uploads/2011/04/11/leonard_peltier_infopack.pdf
So here is the order: page 1 March flier page 2 March information pages 3, 4 and 5, The Case of Leonard Peltier page 6 NW Clemency campaign page 7 Clemency petition page 8 back page mailer and medical alert
All pages front and back. This is the limit on one first class stamp. It will be folded in half. To mail it, it must be stapled and the two open sides sealed. What I do is get mailing labels for that. If you or others around you wish to mail any out. People could print it out and mail it to people and groups they know or hand it out.
Second Annual Law and Disorder Conference: April 15-17 2011, Portland State University
Dear Friends and Comrades, * * Please post this far and wide. Read below for finalized list of panels and events for the entire weekend. Please check out this link if you can volunteer: STUDENTS FOR UNITY AND OREGON JERICHO PRESENT
The Second Annual Law & Disorder Conference
Portland State University: Smith Memorial Building-3rd Floor
April 15-17th 2011
Friday(6pm-10pm), Saturday(9am-10pm), Sunday(9am-6pm)
*Free, open to the public and disability affirmative!
*This is a low impact conference- bring reusable cups, bowls and eating utensils!
*Safe Space Zone and childcare provided!
FEATURED PRESENTERS
Ashanti Omowali Alston- The Jericho Movement
Chrystos- Native poet
Right 2 Survive
Evan Greer- Riot Folk
Kristian Williams- Local Author
146
Claude Marks- Freedom Archives
Jeff “Free” Luers – Former Eco-Political Prisoner
Lauren Regan- Civil Liberties Defense Center
Tre Arrow- Former Eco-Political Prisoner
People, movements, organizations and collectives will present alternative accounts to the political dimensions of civic engagement, mutual aid and revolution as they relate to economics, politics, invention, technology, work, artistic and cultural production, the body, pedagogy and social change. The conference promises to create a provocative space for comparative critical dialogue between activists, revolutionaries, educators, artists, musicians, scholars, dancers, actors and writers. The conference will have panels and workshops on all aspects of social change from the revolutionary to the academic.
Co-sponsors
Students for Unity, Student Animal Liberation Coalition, Pan American Solidarity Organization, NW Student Coalition, The Jericho Movement, Connect the Dots, Cascadia Rising Tide, Portland Animal Defense League, Safe Communities,
Civil Liberties Defense Center
For more information, please visit the conference website: http://lawandisorder.wordpress.com/
E-mail: [email protected] *
* *
*Friday April 15th 2011*
* *
*5:30-8:00 Registration & Tabling (Vanport Room 338) *
*5:30-8:00 Political Prisoner Letter Writing (326)*
*5:30-10:00 Child Care (333) *
*5:30-8:00 Safe Space room (323)*
*8:00-9:00 Antonis Vradis and Dimitris Dalakoglou are editors of the anarchist journal and blog Occupied London and members of the antagonist movement in Greece and the UK. (327)*
*9:00-2:00 Afterparty at the Variant (4810 NE Garfield-Off NE MLK:Wygant&Alberta) Performances by Holy!Holy!Holy!, Mic Crenshaw and others....*
* * 147
*Saturday April 16th 2011*
* *
*10:30-11:45 Panels 1, 2 & 3 (327, 328 & 329)*
*Panel 1 (327)*
*Trauma, Inside and Out: Prison Life, Losing Friends, Police Abuse and * Snitches
Tre Arrow- Former Eco Political Prisoner
Jeff “Free” Luers- Former Eco Political Prisoner
Josh Harper (Pre-recorded lecture)- Former SHAC 7 animal rights Political Prisoner
Lauren Regan- Director, Civil Liberties Defense Center
*Panel 2 (328)*
*Police Accountability and Police Abolition: Dilemmas, Paradoxes, and Strategies*
Kristian Williams- Author of *Our Enemies in Blue: Police and Power in America and American Methods: Torture and the Logic of Domination*. Member of Rose City Copwatch, in Portland.
*Panel 3 (329)*
*Climate Justice: “Who has the power, who has the solutions?”*
Kim Marks, Rising Tide, Kari Koch, Climate Justice Portland, and special guests.
* *
*1:00-2:30 Workshops 1, 2 & 3 (327, 328 & 329)*
*Workshop 1 (327)*
**The Art of Dismantling: Revolutionary Creativity for the Movement
Chrystos- Native, Queer, Poet
Jeff Campbell-Apostle, vocalist and community organizer, Denver CO
Mic Crenshaw- Emcee and community organizer
Chris Richards- Autonomous Music
Johnny Correa-Visual artist, queer activist
Roger Peet-Visual artist, printmaker, Justseeds Cooperative member
148
*Workshop 2 (328)*
*Political Prisoner Support and the Jericho Movement*
Ed Mead- Seattle Jericho and former Political Prisoner
Mark Cook- Seattle Jericho and former Political Prisoner
Larry Giddings- Seattle Jericho and former Political Prisoner
* *
*Workshop 3 (329)*
*Everyone's Doing It, It's Cool Right? Right?; or, should I go to law school to become a "radical" lawyer or to school to become a "radical" legal worker?*
Kenneth A. Kreuscher- Local movement attorney and member of the Portland Law Collective and the National Lawyers Guild.
Hudson Munoz- Local legal worker with the Portland Law Collective.
Logan Perkins- Law student and activist in environmental direct-action activism and in rural organizing.
* *
* *
*3:00-4:15 Panels 3, 4, 5 & 6 (327, 328, 329 & Ballroom)*
*Panel 3 (327)*
***Religious Repression and the Struggle for Native Culture in Prison*
**Paulette Dauteuil- Co-chair of the Jericho Movement
Chrystos- Native Queer Poet
* *
*Panel 4 (328)*
*The Practical is Radical: Subverting the Dominant Paradigm through Fertility Awareness, Acupressure and Organizing a Women’s Health Collective*
Corinne Wolcott- Chinese Medicine practitioner, PDX IWW
Samantha Zipporah-Professional birth doula
*Panel 5 (329) *
*COINing Repression: The History and Politics of Counterinsurgency***
149 Will Munger- Senior in anthropology at Reed College. His research attempts to unpack history and theory while clarifying the politics behind the domestic application of counterinsurgency.
*Panel 6 (Ballroom)*
*The Freedom Archives*
Claude Marks- Director of the Freedom Archives and former Political Prisoner
* *
*4:30-5:45 Panels 7, 8, 9 & 10 (327, 328, 329 & Ballroom)*
*Panel 7 (327)*
*Political Prisoners in Colombia in U.S. Built Prisons***
Bruce Wilkinson is Project Coordinator and board member for Media Island International a 501c3 nonprofit in Olympia, WA.
*Panel 8 (328)*
**Sex Worker Politics and Repression
Stephanie Boston- Portland Animal Defense League/Cascadia Rising Tide
*Panel 9 (329)*
**Patriarchy and the Prison Industrial Complex
Evan Greer- Riot Folk
* *
*Panel 10 (Ballroom)*
*“Green is the new red!”: Updates on Earth and Animal Liberation Political Prisoners*
Lauren Regan- Civil Liberties Defense Center
*6:30-7:00 Performance: Chrystos *
*7:00-8:00 Keynote speaker- Ashanti Omowali Austin (Ballroom)*
150 *8:30-10:00 COINTELPRO 101 Film Screening (5th Avenue Cinema)*
*8:00-2:00 Afterparty at the Variant (4810 NE Garfield-Off NE MLK:Wygant&Alberta)*
* *
*Sunday April 17th 2011*
* *
*10:30-11:45 Panels 1, 2, 3 & 4 (327, 328, 329 & Ballroom)*
* *
*Panel 1 (327) *
*Revolutionary Environmentalism*
Dillon Thomson- Lead lecturer and archivist for Fertile Ground
*Panel 2 (328)*
**Local Animal Rights Activism
Portland Animal Defense League
*Panel 3 (329)*
**Participatory Economics and Latin American Politics
Peter Bohmer- Activist scholar (Evergreen College)
*Panel 4 (Ballroom)*
*Alternatives to EMS/Police*
Rosehip Medic Collective and Rosecity Copwatch
* *
* *
*1:00-2:30 Workshops 1, 2 & 3 (327, 328 & 329)*
* *
*Workshop 1 (327)*
*Connect the Dots 101: White Supremacy and the Prison Industrial Complex*
The Committee to Connect the Dots- Local collective
*Workshop 2 (328)*
*Community Alternatives to the Police*
151 Community Alternatives to the Police- Local collective
*Workshop 3 (329)*
**Criminalization of Survival
Right 2 Survive- Local organization of homeless people of circumstances, the formerly homeless, and their allies.
*2:45-4:00 Panels 5, 6, 7 & 8 (327, 328, 329 & Ballroom)*
* *
*Panel 5 (327)*
*Repression and Hope in Honduras *
Gerardo Torres- Spokesperson for the US and Canada of the International Commission of the National Front of Popular Resistance, Coordinator of Political Education of the National Front of Youth Movements in Resistance of Honduras.
*Panel 6 (328)*
**Addicted to Failure: US Drug War Policy in the Americas
Sanho Tree- Internationally acclaimed human rights advocate and drug war policy analyst.
*Panel 7 (329)*
*GI Rights Movement and Resistance: From Past to Present*
Veterans for Peace Chapter 72 and Iraq Veterans Against War
*Panel 8 (Ballroom) *
*Striking Based Self Defense***
Anthony Patch- Local Muay Thai instructor
*4:00-6:00 Closing Planery Session (Ballroom)*
DON’T FORGET: Black Political Imprisonment Symposium
People in and around Texas and others who can attend throughout this colonial nation, come to the critical symposium on the subject of Black Political Imprisonment on April 23rd, 2011 at the African and African Diaspora Studies Department in the GRG building, 2nd floor at the University of Texas, Austin. The symposium will serve as a gathering point for Black people to discuss the continued imprisonment of Black radical activist, discuss key questions surrounding their imprisonment, and develop practical steps toward freeing these leaders immediately. To all Black people who are concerned about our conditions in America, your unique perspectives on the struggle, trials and incarceration of Black political activists in the US would make a significant contribution to a dialogue with 152 activists and scholars seeking to build on historical social justice endeavors. The organizers of this symposium also invite the community to contribute on the topic of “Black Political Imprisonment, Here and Now!” to the HTLC digital repository
Now showing works 1-11 of 11
April 23, 2011 Symposium: "Black Political Imprisonment, Here and Now!" James, Joy (2011)
Black women's narratives of genocide in urban Rio de Janeiro Rocha, Luciane O. (2011)
Cradle to Grave: Texas "Disproportionality" from Foster Care to Death Row James, Joy (2009-01-01)
The Greatest Threat Conway, Marhsall Eddie (2011)
Human rights in the U.S.: The unfinished story of political prisoners/victims of cointelpro Taifa, Nkechi; Cleaver, Kathleen Neal; Warren, Michael Tarif; Ellison, Bruce; Jaga, Geronimo ji; Whitehorn, Laura (2001)
Imprisoned Intellectuals: America's Political Prisoners Write on Life, Liberation, and Rebellion James, Joy (2003)
Message to the Black Political Imprisonment Conference (MAJ) Abu-Jamal, Mumia (2011-03-10)
Safiya Bukhari on U.S. political prisoners: excerpts from “The War Before: The True Life Story of Becoming a Black Panther, Keeping the Faith in Prison & Fighting for Those Left Behind” (New York: The Feminist Press, 2010) Bukhari, Safiyah (2010)
Towards a New American Revolution Muntaqim, Jalil A. (2009)
Towards a Truth and Reconciliation Commission For New African/Black Political Prisoners, Prisoners of War and Freedom Fighters Shakur, Mutulu (2010)
Unique problems associated with the legal defense of political prisoners and prisoners of war (PP/POWs) Acoli, Sundiata (1996)
Chicago - Cointelpro 101, Monday, April 18, 6:00 pm
153 The Center for the Study of Race, Politics & Culture at the University of Chicago presents a special screening of the documentary film
COINTELPRO 101
"COINTELPRO is the FBI acronym for a series of covert action programs directed against domestic groups. In these programs, the Bureau went beyond the collection of intelligence to secret action defined to 'disrupt' and 'neutralize' target groups and individuals." Church Committee Report, 1976
Panel discussion after the screening featuring former political prisoners Ricardo Jimenez, National Boricua Human Rights Network Dr. Ahmad Rahman, Associate Prof. of History, University of Michigan-Dearborn
Monday, April 18, 2011 6:00 p.m. 5710 S. Woodlawn- Community Lounge Free Admission & Refreshments
Persons with disabilities requiring assistance to participate, contact
Co-Sponsored by: Black Panther Party Illinois Chapter History Project, N.F.P.; The Jericho Movement/Chicago Chapter an affiliate of IYPAD Chicago; National Boricua Human Rights Network Chicago Chapter; Organization of Black Students at U of C; and Puerto Rican Students Association at U of C
Actors and Artists Thank Carter for his Call to Release the Five
154
International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban 5
U.S. Actors and Artists Thank Former President Jimmy Carter for his call to Release the Cuban 5
MEDIA ADVISORY
CONTACT: Suzanne Thompson (310) 570-5419 [email protected]
Alicia Jrapko (510) 219-0092 [email protected]
DANNY GLOVER, SUSAN SARANDON, JACKSON BROWNE, MARTIN SHEEN, BONNIE RAITT, OLIVER STONE, CHRISSIE HYNDE, EDWARD ASNER, MIKE FARREL, GRAHAM NASH (PLUS OTHERS) THANK FORMER PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER FOR HIS CALL TO
RELEASE THE CUBAN 5 AND FOR IMPROVED RELATIONS WITH CUBA
(LOS ANGELES - April 11, 2011) After hearing former President Carter call for the release of the Cuban 5, twenty U.S. Actors and Artists United for the Freedom of the Cuban 5 sent a letter thanking him for demanding their release and for improved relations with Cuba. "I believe
155 that there is no reason to keep the Cuban 5 imprisoned, there were doubts in the U.S. courts and also among human rights organizations in the world. Now, they have been in prison 12 years and I hope that in the near future they will be released to return home."- Former President Jimmy Carter.
The actors and artists who signed on to the letter include: Edward Asner, Co-Chair, Danny Glover, Co-Chair, Jackson Browne, James Cromwell, Mike Farrell, Richard Foos, Elliott Gould, Chrissie Hynde, Graham Nash, Bonnie Raitt, Susan Sarandon, Pete Seeger, Martin Sheen, Betty & Stanley K. Sheinbaum, Andy Spahn, Oliver Stone, Esai Morales, Francisco Letelier and Haskell Wexler.
Carter, invited by Cuban President Raul Castro, on behalf of The Carter Center, is the first US President in 50 years to set foot on Cuban soil. He ended his three-day trip on March 30th by also calling to remove Cuba from the U.S. State Department's list of state sponsors of terrorism, to lift the US blockade now having been imposed on Cuba for half a century, and to remove all restrictions imposed on its citizens regarding travel to Cuba. To watch the Press Conference visit www.thecuban5.org
"Typically, President Carter moves forward with courage. Just as typically, he will be criticized by those who lack it." - Mike Farrell
The Cuban 5 are Gerardo Hernandez Nordelo, Antonio Guerrero Rodriguez, Fernando Gonzalez Llort, Ramon Labanino Salazar, and Rene Gonzalez Sehwerert, serving over 12 years in US prisons for simply trying to protect their country from terrorism.
The actors and artists also expressed their gratitude for Carter's visit and encouraged subsequent discussions with President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
"Your wisdom and courage in calling for the 156 release of the Cuban 5 provides support for President Obama to correct this injustice and issue Executive Clemency for the Cuban 5 so they can return to their families." - Danny Glover, Co-Chair
And certainly, until their release, the US government should grant regular visas in a timely manner, to their family members to visit them.
LETTER FROM U.S. ACTORS AND ARTISTS SENT TO FORMER PRESIDENT CARTER
April 8, 2011
The Honorable Jimmy Carter
The Carter Center One Copenhill 453 Freedom Parkway Atlanta, GA 30307
Dear President Carter:
We, Actors and Artists United for the Freedom of the Cuban 5, want to extend our deepest gratitude for your recent visit to Cuba, as well as our support for your statements promoting improved relations between our countries.
Your call for the release of Gerardo Hernandez Nordelo, Antonio Guerrero Rodriguez, Fernando Gonzalez Llort, Ramon Labanino Salazar, and Rene Gonzalez Sehwerert, known as the Cuban 5, and your willing-ness to visit with their family members in Cuba mean a great deal to all involved. We strongly agree that there is no reason to keep these men, who were simply trying to protect their country from terrorism, imprisoned any longer.
And certainly, until their release, the US government should grant regular visas in a timely manner, to their family members to visit them.
Your leadership honors the principles upon which our nation was founded. Your calls to remove Cuba from the US State Department's list of state sponsors of terrorism, to lift the US blockade now having been imposed on Cuba for half a century, and to remove all restrictions imposed 157 on its citizens regarding travel to Cuba (a position supported by 67% of Americans and Cuban Americans), are fair, just and appropriate.
Further, we enthusiastically support you in having subsequent discussions with President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and hope you will call for urgent action on their part to make right this unjust situation.
Again, we thank you and look forward to the possibility of improved relations and future visits to Cuba.
With respect,
Edward Asner, Co-Chair
Danny Glover, Co-Chair
Jackson Browne James Cromwell Mike Farrell Richard Foos Elliott Gould Chrissie Hynde Francisco Letelier Esai Morales Graham Nash Bonnie Raitt Susan Sarandon Pete Seeger Martin Sheen Betty & Stanley K. Sheinbaum Andy Spahn Oliver Stone Haskell Wexler
For the freedom of each and all political prisoners, against repression of social protest!
April 8, 2011 Anarkismo
In recent years we have seen has been sharpening a policy of repression towards social struggles, through persecution, imprisonment, prosecution and criminalization of many people and organizations that speak out against the injustices of this system, all of which motivates us to raise our political position towards the subject, especially against the current stage of struggle for social and political prisoners. 158
Therefore, we as a Libertarian Communist Federation, declare:
1. We understand that the present policy of repression, a range of sectors who protest against injustice, are part of the historic role that has kept the Chilean State, guaranteeing an order of things in favor of the ruling class, encouraging the investment of the major economic players and wiping out all opposition to its expansion plans and increase profits at the expense of the dominated sectors.
2. The current legal system the Constitution framed in 1980, is a prime instrument of repression of and fighting. In this sense, the "anti-terror law" has become a major weapon of the Chilean State to criminalize social protest and submit.
3. We note that in recent years is still a repressive policy of the Chilean state and the dominant sectors, particularly aggressive, which involves: a) The follow-up activities, and therefore harassment of various social and political expressions of opposition to this system of injustice. b) The prosecution for people and organizations more visible and symbolically most disturbing for the "order": Mapuche, anarchists and anti-authoritarians. c) Harassment, persecution and imprisonment of former political prisoners militant revolutionary political organizations (FPMR, Lautaro, MIR), which shows a clear intention to revenge the Chilean State. d) The defamation by the authorities and the press, the various claims, demands and proposals for social change.
This state policy is well articulated by the Ministry of Interior, in cooperation with other state and nonstate actors, and represents a real danger for all those seriously considering the organization and the struggle for social transformation most desirable.
4. Following the policy of state, we see that the prosecution and the prosecution prosecutions mounted completely irrational, the limit of its own laws, you end up with extremely harsh penalties, in order to deliver a sobering message to the people, "dissent is punished to the fullest extent of the law. "
One example was what happened in the case of militant PC, Continental Bolivarian Movement and the Solidarity Movement for Peace in Colombia, Manuel Olate, which he has tried to link with the FARC-EP. A Olate is charged as a liaison between the insurgency and radical factions of the 159 Mapuche movement, which so far has not been tested for lack of evidence.
This type of political persecution is particularly clear in court proceedings mounted against Mapuche organizations and communities. On numerous occasions they have used and paid faceless witnesses with obvious procedural errors, even with different practices to those accused of torture to extort confessions or evidence alleged. All this points to the maximum harsher sentences, which has an obvious political content of the claims against the Mapuche people. Faced with this situation, the Mapuche political prisoners held in Cañete (Llaitul Hector Ramon Llanquileo, Jonathan and Joseph Huillical Huenuche), are conducting a hunger strike since 15 March.
Has also continued this behavior, so-called "case bombs", in which even the prosecution was allowed to extend the investigation period by more than 7 months without evidence against the accused, keeping them in prison all this time and the worst possible conditions. As a peer pressure and maintain the hunger strike which runs from Feb. 21, which has been accompanied by various demonstrations of support in different places, inside and outside the country. Only on April 4, the prosecution presented to the Eighth South Court libel accusatory Guarantee, where required and penalties for defendants ranging from 10 years to life imprisonment.
The size of the assembly has reached the point that "suspiciously" a bomb exploded inside the offices of the People's Defender (group of defense lawyers), just 4 days of a vital audience, an opportunity that fell like a ring the finger to the prosecution, who had direct access to the folders on the defense. As if that were not enough, the authorities have decided to award the Attorney Alejandro Peña, integrating in the Secretary of the Interior, where part of a team advising the government on security. This is a clear sign of the line that will boost the state repression towards social movement.
5. We call on all social and political organizations, unions, student organizations and people, to speak for and speak out against the repressive policy of the state, actively participating in various demonstrations called for the release of any and all political prisoners , by the end of the anti-terrorism law and the judicial and political assemblies. At the same time propose the articulation of the various organizations and sectors concerned, to joint force against political imprisonment and criminalization of social protest. Just building a strong and organized people may provide the possibility to stop the offensive Capital repressive state and pave the way towards socialism and freedom.
Release immediately all political prisoners and all! Without Solidarity Struggle No! The top and those who fight!
160 Libertarian Communist Federation Chile
Por la libertad de todas y todos los presos políticos, contra la represión de la protesta social
Durante los últimos años hemos visto como se ha ido agudizando una política de represión hacia las luchas sociales, por medio de la persecución, encarcelamiento, judicialización y criminalización de muchas personas y organizaciones que levantan la voz contra las injusticias de este sistema, todo lo cual nos motiva a plantear nuestra posición política frente al tema, en especial frente al actual escenario de lucha de las y los presos sociales y políticos. Por lo tanto, nosotros como Federación Comunista Libertaria, declaramos[...]
Por la libertad de todas y todos los presos políticos, contra la represión de la protesta social
Durante los últimos años hemos visto como se ha ido agudizando una política de represión hacia las luchas sociales, por medio de la persecución, encarcelamiento, judicialización y criminalización de muchas personas y organizaciones que levantan la voz contra las injusticias de este sistema, todo lo cual nos motiva a plantear nuestra posición política frente al tema, en especial frente al actual escenario de lucha de las y los presos sociales y políticos.
Por lo tanto, nosotros como Federación Comunista Libertaria, declaramos:
1. Comprendemos que la actual política de represión, hacia diversos sectores que protestan contra las injusticias, se enmarcan dentro del rol histórico que ha mantenido el Estado chileno, garantizando un orden de cosas a favor de la clase dominante, favoreciendo la inversión de los grandes actores económicos y barriendo con cualquier tipo de oposición a sus planes de expansión e incremento de las ganancias, a costa de los sectores dominados.
2. El actual orden jurídico enmarcado en la Constitución de 1980, es un claro instrumento de represión hacia las y los que luchan. En este sentido, la llamada “Ley anti terrorista” se ha convertido en una de las principales armas del Estado chileno para criminalizar y someter la protesta social.
3. Observamos que en los últimos años se sigue una política represiva de parte del Estado chileno y los sectores dominantes, particularmente agresiva, la cual implica: a) El seguimiento de las actividades, y por lo tanto el hostigamiento 161 hacia diversas expresiones sociales y políticas de oposición hacia este sistema de injusticias. b) La persecución judicial hacia las personas y organizaciones más visibles y simbólicamente más perturbadoras para el “orden público”: mapuche, anarquistas y antiautoritarios. c) El hostigamiento, persecución y encarcelación de ex presas y presos políticos militantes de organizaciones políticas revolucionarias (FPMR, Lautaro, MIR), lo que demuestra una clara intención revanchista del Estado chileno. d) La difamación por parte de las autoridades y de la prensa, de las diversas reivindicaciones, demandas y propuestas de cambio social.
Esta política de Estado es notoriamente articulada desde el Ministerio del Interior, con la colaboración de otros actores estatales y no estatales, y representa un verdadero peligro para todos quienes se plantean la organización y la lucha por las transformaciones sociales más anheladas.
4. Siguiendo esa política de Estado, vemos que la Fiscalía y el Ministerio Público montan procesos judiciales completamente irracionales, al límite de su propia legalidad, que terminan con penas extremadamente duras, con el objetivo de entregar un mensaje aleccionador a la población: “cualquier disidencia será castigada con todo el peso de la ley”.
Un ejemplo de ello, fue lo sucedido en el caso del militante del PC, del Movimiento Continental Bolivariano y del Movimiento de Solidaridad por la Paz en Colombia, Manuel Olate, al cual se le ha intentado vincular con las FARC-EP. A Olate se le imputa ser un enlace entre el movimiento insurgente y fracciones radicalizadas del movimiento mapuche, lo cual hasta el momento no ha sido comprobado por falta de pruebas.
Este tipo de persecución política es particularmente clara, en los procesos judiciales montados contra las organizaciones y Comunidades Mapuche. En numerosas ocasiones se han utilizado testigos sin rostro y pagados, con vicios procesales evidentes, incluso con diversas prácticas de tortura hacia los acusados con el fin de arrancarles supuestas confesiones o pruebas. Todo esto apunta hacia el máximo endurecimiento de las penas, lo cual tiene un evidente contenido político en contra de las reivindicaciones del pueblo mapuche. Frente a esta situación, los presos políticos mapuche recluidos en Cañete (Héctor Llaitul, Ramón Llanquileo, Jonathan Huillical y José Huenuche), llevan adelante una huelga de hambre desde el 15 de marzo.
También se ha seguido este comportamiento, en el llamado “caso bombas”, en el que incluso a la Fiscalía se le permitió extender el período de investigación por más de 7 meses, sin tener pruebas contra los imputados, 162 manteniéndolos encarcelados todo este tiempo y en las peores condiciones posibles. Como medida de presión las y los compañeros sostienen una huelga de hambre que se extiende desde el 21 de febrero, la que ha sido acompañada por diversas movilizaciones de apoyo en diversos lugares, dentro y fuera del país. Recién el día 4 de abril la Fiscalía Sur presentó ante el Octavo Juzgado de Garantía el libelo acusatorio, en donde se exigen penas para las y los imputados que van desde los 10 años hasta la prisión perpetua.
La dimensión del montaje ha llegado a tal punto, que “sospechosamente” una bomba estalló en el interior de las oficinas de la Defensoría Popular (grupo de abogados de los imputados), a solo 4 días de una vital audiencia; oportunidad que cayó como anillo al dedo a la Fiscalía, quien tuvo acceso directo a las carpetas de la defensa. Como si no fuera suficiente, las autoridades han decidido premiar al fiscal Alejandro Peña, integrándolo a la Subsecretaria del Interior, en donde formará parte de un equipo que asesorará al gobierno en materia de seguridad. Esta es una clara señal de la línea represiva que impulsará el Estado hacia el movimiento social.
5. Hacemos un llamado a todas las organizaciones sociales y políticas, a los sindicatos, organizaciones de estudiantes y de pobladores, a pronunciarse y manifestarse contra la política represiva del Estado, participando activamente en las diversas movilizaciones convocadas por la libertad de todas y todos los presos políticos, por el fin de la ley anti terrorista y los montajes político-judiciales. Al mismo tiempo proponemos la articulación de las distintas organizaciones y sectores afectados, para hacer fuerza común contra la prisión política y la criminalización de la protesta social. Solo la construcción de un pueblo fuerte y organizado podrá brindar la posibilidad de frenar las ofensivas represivas del Estado-Capital y allanar el camino hacia el socialismo y la libertad.
¡Libertad Inmediata a Todas y Todos los Presos Políticos! ¡Ninguna Lucha sin Solidaridad! ¡Arriba las y los que Luchan!
Federación Comunista Libertaria Chile
2 Bahrain opposition supporters die police custody
By BARBARA SURK, Associated Press April 9, 2011
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Two supporters of Bahrain's anti-government movement died in police custody Saturday after physical abuse at the hands of security officials, activists said.
The interior ministry said the body of Rashid Zakaria Hassan, 40, was found in a detention facility and a medical examiner determined that he died of complications from sickle-cell anemia. 163
Hassan was detained April 2 on charges of "inciting hatred, publishing false news, promoting sectarianism and calling for overthrowing of the regime" on social networking sites, the interior ministry said.
The opposition party, Al-Wefaq, said the death occurred in "mysterious circumstances."
The interior ministry said another detainee, Ali Isa Saqer, 31, died on Saturday in police custody after "creating chaos at the detention center."
Activists believe both men were subjected to physical and mental abuse and might have died as a result, said Nabeel Rajab of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights.
"We believed they killed them in prison," Rajab said.
The interior ministry said Saqer was hurt while resisting guards' attempts to restrain him and he died in a hospital.
Saqer was detained March 13 for attempted murder of a policeman, it said.
Authorities also detained and beat a prominent human rights activist as they waged a continuing widespread crackdown on the opposition in this tiny Gulf nation, a Bahraini human rights group and his relatives said.
The Bahrain Center for Human Rights said Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, who formerly worked for international human rights organizations, was detained on Saturday in a pre-dawn raid. Al-Khawaja's daughter, Zainab, confirmed the arrest and said her father was taken from her house in a Shiite village outside the capital, Manama.
She told The Associated Press that armed and masked men, some wearing black police uniforms and carrying riot gear, stormed her house around 2 a.m. They beat her father unconscious before taking him into custody along with her husband and her brother-in-law, she added.
Al-Khawaja, 50, is a former Middle East and North Africa director of Frontline Defenders rights organization. He also documented human rights abuses in Bahrain for Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. His daughter said he stopped working for international organizations last year because of harassment by the authorities.
Al-Khawaja's son-in-law, Mohammed al-Maskati, who also is an activist, was in the house during Saturday's raid. He said armed men in black uniforms bound him with plastic handcuffs and forced him to lie on the ground face-down while agents beat him. One man kept a foot on his neck, he said.
Bahrain declared emergency rule last month and cracked down on protests by the country's Shiite majority against a Sunni monarchy, detaining hundreds of activists and anti-government protesters. At least 27 people have been killed since Feb. 14 when protests began in the strategically important Gulf kingdom, the home of the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet.
According to Human Rights Watch, more than 400 people are being held by the Bahraini authorities since the unrest began last month.
Relatives and friends of those missing since the March 16 army raid on the protesters' encampment in Manama's Pearl Square have reported 430 names to 164 Al-Wefaq, the statement said.
None of the detained activists and opposition leaders have been publicly charged with a crime or brought to trial. The authorities banned "all media from publishing data and news" legal proceedings against anybody being tried by the security courts, Bahrain's official news agency said in a brief report Friday.
Officials: Informant violated probation An arsonist who testified against radical environmentalists is back in jail
April 9, 2011 By Jack Moran The Register-Guard
Jacob Jeremiah Ferguson, the arsonist-turned-informant who helped federal officials convict 10 co- conspirators in the largest-ever prosecution of underground environmental radicals, was arrested this week after authorities accused him of violating terms of the probation he received in 2008 in exchange for his cooperation with the government.
Ferguson, a 38-year-old Eugene resident, is being held in the Lane County Jail. He is scheduled to appear Monday in U.S. District Court in Eugene for a status conference.
A spokeswoman in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Portland did not have information on what led officials to arrest Ferguson for an alleged probation violation.
If Ferguson’s probation is revoked, he could be sent to prison.
Ferguson pleaded guilty in 2007 to one count each of arson and attempted arson, as part of an agreement with prosecutors that allowed him to avoid prison and instead be placed on probation for five years.
In pleading guilty, Ferguson acknowledged taking part in an attempt to burn down a U.S. Forest Service ranger station near Detroit and setting fire to a pickup truck near the building in 1996.
Court records showed that Ferguson was involved in at least 14 arsons and acts of sabotage — more than any of the 10 co-conspirators he helped the government prosecute in the so-called Operation Backfire case.
All 10 went to prison after Ferguson, working undercover for federal investigators, wore a recording device to capture 88 hours of conversation with them.
When court proceedings revealed Ferguson’s cooperation, he became a pariah in the activist community and was subjected to numerous threats, prosecutors said in court the day U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken sentenced him to probation.
165 The 10 others convicted in the case in Oregon were ordered to serve prison terms ranging from three to 13 years, and pay millions of dollars in restitution to arson and sabotage victims in five Western states who suffered property damage and business loss.
Ferguson, according to court records, took part in crimes that included the destruction of the Oakridge Ranger Station in 1996, the Cavel West horsemeat packing plant in Redmond in 1997, the U.S. Forest Industries office in Medford in 1998, the Childers Meat Co. in Eugene in 1999, and the Superior Lumber Co. in Glendale in 2001.
Ferguson and the others convicted in Operation Backfire were part of an activist group known as “The Family.”
2 Protesters Murdered, 30 Wounded by Police in Mine Protest in Peru
April 8, 2011 Earth First! Newswire
Two people died and over 30 were wounded Thursday in southern Peru when a protest against a planned copper mining project erupted with gun-fire from security forces against the protesters.
Thursday’s deaths brought to three the number of people killed this week in protests by agrarian peasants who fear mining by the Mexican company Southern Copper will contaminate water they use to irrigate crops. Sustained protests have gone on for over two weeks near the Tia Maria mine site. Southern Copper, which is owned by Grupo Mexico, has invested nearly 116 million dollars out of a 950 million dollar investment project in the mine.
Officials at Islay Hospital say the two dead protesters were killed by gunshots. Both were shot in the head. Earlier in the week, a 22-year-old man identified as Huancapuma Clemente died after being shot in the abdomen during a demonstration in the town of Mollendo, near the Islay province.
The regional police commander says protesters set fire to a municipal 166 building and local headquarters of the governing party. Protesters also blocked access to the port of Matarani, where ships load ores for export to China.
Earlier in the week Peru’ s government issued an order to temporarily suspend an environmental impact study of the Tia Maria mine project.
If you would like to call the mining company behind the murders here is there US office number: Arizona: (602) 494-5328
Announcement of the 3 imprisoned members of Revolutionary Struggle concerning the use of Lambros Foundas’ name in the arson of the Law School in Athen
Announcement of the 3 imprisoned members of Revolutionary Struggle concerning the use of Lambros Foundas’ name in the arson of the Law School in Athens (Greece)
April 6, 2011 Anarchist News
Lambros Foundas gave his life fighting on the lines of the Revolutionary Struggle, an urban guerilla organization that operated alongside the exploited and oppressed.
He gave his life promoting a political project that aimed at the popular and proletarian counterattack on the conditions of modern totalitarianism, in which we live.
Our opinion as well as Lambros Foundas as members of the Revolutionary Struggle is that armed struggle is an essential tool of social-class struggle to overthrow capitalism and social revolution rather than a means to an existential affirmation of the individualistic insurrectionary experience of some.
This should be understood by all those who misuse the name of the our dead comrade in supposedly “revolutionary” actions such as the arson of the Law School in Athens (1). The actions of the Revolutionary Struggle has nothing in common with such actions and the antisocial individualistic reasoning that is behind them.
Unfortunately some did not understand our warning last December when parcel bombs were sent to embassies in Rome where a low ranked embassy employee was injured, and where we stressed not to carry out such so-called “politically targeted” actions using the name of our dead comrade. (2 & 3)
Unfortunately some people forced us to revert to preserve the political memory and honour of our dead comrade. We hope this is the last time some people use in such an abusive manner the name Lambros Foundas in unworthy actions and non related to the actions of our comrade which do not honour him.
Also we should note that when actions are taken as “Commando Lambros Foundas” – a name which has been used repeatedly after the death of the comrade – because it gives the comrade the role of who acts, since his name is the name of that group which acts, it is required to have a link concerning the choices of action and the political words surrounding them and a match of the resources used.
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It is of course the same when an action in honor of the comrade is accompanied by the slogan “Honour to Lambros Foundas”.
Obviously every comrade can honour him while respecting the choices of struggle he made, and the political characteristics that we believe in are well known.
The three imprisoned members of Revolutionary Struggle
P.Roupa, K.Gournas, N.Maziotis
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(1) Excerpt from communique claiming responsibility for the arson attack on the Athens law school:
“We watched with interest the hunger striker immigrants developing political characteristics in their action. But with even greater interest we watched the Greek state trample vested democratically rights with a relatively great ease. At least now there will be no arguments for the defense of the non-existent asylum. Thus in the more general dissatisfaction we selected to strike the building of the Law School of Athens. We into the door of the central amphitheater that is on the first floor and placed in the interior many incendiary devices aiming at the biggest possible destruction. We manufactured the mechanisms in such a way that the critical hour there are no students in the building and find themselves in a direct danger. We address a clear blackmail to democracy, that if something happens to a hunger striker we will not hesitate to strike also other buildings or even people-symbols of it.
SOLIDARITY TO ALL DIGNIFIED HOSTAGES OF WAR HONOUR TO LAMBROS FOUNDAS MEMBER OF REVOLUTIONARY STRUGGLE
International Revolutionary Front – Deviant Behaviour for the Spread of Revolutionary Terrorism/ Cell of Anarchist Action”
(2 & 3) See here and here for more information.
Translated: by BoubourAs / Actforfreedomnow!
Terrorist suspects freed pending trial
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April 9, 2011 ekathimerini
Three alleged members of Revolutionary Struggle get conditional release; another three still in custody
Three suspected members of the Revolutionary Struggle urban guerrilla group were granted conditional release by a council of appeals court judges on Wednesday after almost exactly a year in custody.
Christoforos Kortesis, Evangelos Stathopoulos and Sarantos Nikitopoulos were allowed to leave jail after posting 3,000-euro bail payments and agreeing to report to their local police station twice a month.
Nikos Maziotis, a self-professed member of the group and its presumed leader, is to remain in custody along with his girlfriend Panayiota Roupa and the sixth suspect Costas Gournas.
The six suspects were arrested last April following police raids in Attica and other parts of Greece.
The group emerged in 2003 with the boming of an Athens court and subsequently claimed a string of hits on government and business targets. It is best known for firing a rocket-propelled grenade at the US Embassy in 2007.
Call for solidarity: Social Center Satama under threat of eviction (Helsinki, Finland)
April 6, 2011 Anarchist News
The situation at Social Center Satama is critical. The city of Helsinki is threatening Satama and the Roma camp at the social center's yard with an eviction. No one knows currently when the eviction will come - if it comes - if the city will not agree on our conditions.
At this point the Roma living in the camp have said that a camp without electricity in the yard of the social center is better than one under a bridge. The Rescue Department has stated, that they will not accept the camp in any way. To make sure that the Roma camp and Social Center Satama 169 stay, and that activities in both are possible to continue, it is crucial to get as many people as possible to defend their existence. It is also possible to create pressure on the city's officials by other means so that they must make a political decision in favor of the social center and the Roma people. All kinds of solidarity actions are more than welcome at this point.
We need the help of our friends and comrades to ensure that the outcome will be victorious, but also pleasant. We hope to have you with us in erecting barricades, helping in cooking, as well as playing music and hanging out with us. Autonomous spaces are part of the cityscape and will stay so!
We can expect anything from the city and the situation may change dramatically soon, or this state of standoff may continue. To shed some light on how this state of affairs came to be, here is some background:
The city of Helsinki got their best excuse to evict the Roma camp, which has been a thorn in their side for several years, on last November, when there was a fire in the yard of Social Center Satama. After this unfortunate incident, the Rescue Department started harassing the camp. Despite all efforts to improve the safety of the camp (e.g., arranging training about fire safety for the Roma), the Rescue Department has refused to cooperate with the social center. In the end the city pressured the Roma to leave the country giving each 300 euros for travelling expenses and stating that there is no place for them stay here.
About a month ago some Roma came to ask from Social Center Satama if the camp in the yard could be re-opened. The answer was clear, as it has always been - the Roma could camp in the yard and they could get electricity from the social center. The city officials and the Rescue Department responded quickly to the re-opening of the camp by stating that the camp is not suitable for living as opposed to staying under a bridge where you can't get running water or electricity for heating. Even though we tried to negotiate with the Rescue Department to make improvements in the safety of the camp, they were unanimous that the camp must be closed. It seems obvious that behind this decision is the hostility of certain leading officials of the city against the Roma and the social center. The safety of delivering electricity to the camp has been improved all the time, and the current arrangements have been approved by a professional electrician. Still, the Rescue Department hasn't accepted it and they state that the problem is in the user. Which basically means that they are saying that Roma are incapable of using electricity.
Thus, after long negotiations with the Rescue Department on Thursday the 24th of March it seemed that an eviction was certain. Barricades to defend the camp were erected immediately around the yard and many supporters of the camp showed up. At this point though, the officials had not yet requested for help from the police. In the end we agreed on a temporary solution with the Rescue Department to house the Roma of the camp in the social center over the weekend. In addition the Rescue Department removed all vehicles from the yard and one trailer, so that no-one could live in it, and made sure that it's not possible to drive into the yard. The deal was in many ways stupid, and didn't improve the safety of the camp or the social center in any way, as it also made it impossible for emergency vehicles to drive into the yard.
After the weekend the social center stopped being a "fire safe" space during the nights and the Rescue Department was again in favor of evicting 170 the camp. The barricades were re-erected and made stronger, and the people of the social center began to guard the camp to keep police and other unwanted types away. At the same time the city continued talking about "solving the problem", without achieving anything. Jarmo Räihä, the so-called Leading Expert from the Social Services Department, who is appointed by the mayor, Jussi Pajunen, into a working-group about Roma affairs, managed to screw up many times during the week. Räihä offered accomodation for the Roma in a housing unit for homeless people, which was already over-burdened. The Roma refused the deal, stating that they didn't want to take space from other homeless people. After this, we turned on the electricity to the camp, started renovating it and continued waiting and preparing for an eviction.
On Thursday the 31st of March the Youth Department's Director Lasse Siurola, told that he had requested the police to evict the camp. Later we learned that the request had been illegal, as the landlord cannot evict the tenants with the help of police without first changing the contract. After this failed, the Rescue Department took yet again the role of the harasser. After that we have been staying in the house and behind barricades keeping an eye on police patrols and other "concerned citizens" in the immediate vicinity of the social center.
On the morning of the 5th of April two officials came to discuss about the situation. The officials were surprisingly rational and said that their employer was against the camp, but also that the Rescue Department and police are unwilling to have an eviction, as it would only mean that the social center and the camp would be re-opened somewhere else or even at the same location. They promised not to continue harassing us any longer, but a couple of hours later a truck with a load of large blocks drove to the yard in an attempt to fence off the yard. After a while the trucked deemed it best to drive off.
The latest requirement from the Rescue Department is a 24/7 monitoring of the social center and the yard, and sending the bill to the Youth Department. We all understand that the Youth Department has better ways to spend their money than to pay for the ridiculous surveillance of adults around the clock.
The latest rumor is that the eviction is just around the corner, but as we said, we can expect anything from the city.
For more info: http://www.satama.org and sosiaalikeskushki (at) gmail.com
Solidarity to Mapuche communities! Freedom for all Mapuche political prisoners NOW!
April 7, 2011 Void Mirror
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From Athens Greece, from Mexico city to London, from New York to Bilbao, from Hamburg to Sofia and from Katmandhou to San Francisco, from all the active cells of Void Network we are expressing our solidarity to the struggle of Mapuche for Mother Earth, for the Dignity and Freedom of their communities, for the Freedom and Dignity of all of us. The Struggle of Mapuche people is our own struggle, their dreams are our own dreams! Freedom for all political prisoners, Freedom for all Mapuche prisoners NOW!
Dear Friends, this is a message from Mexico City, 23rd March 2011.
Last September we contacted you during the more than eighty day hunger
175 strike staged by Mapuche political prisoners in Chile. At that time we also made a call for international support, numerous individuals and organizations signed up to this cause and responded to the call for support. This included various meetings in the Chilean Embassy in Mexico City in Europe and in other countries around the world which formed part of the international events to provide solidarity and support to these political prisoners in Chile. The hunger strike was ended with an agreement on the part of the Chilean government to not try the detained under terrorist law (which also permits repeated prosecution for the same crime). The hunger strike and the mass support in Chile and beyond made a huge impact, pressurising the Chilean government to respect the basic individual guarantees for the prisoners. Last March all of the seventeen Mapuche political prisoners, persecuted for supposed terrorist crimes, were cleared of those supposed crimes and the majority of them were freed. However, four prisoners who are members of the Arauco Malleco Organisation (Coordinadora Arauco Malleco) have been condemned to prison sentences of between twenty and twenty five years. These are Ramón Llanquileo Pilquiman, José Huenuche, Jonathan Huillical and Héctor Llaitul. It is important to note that the Arauco Malleco Organisation is one of the Mapuche organisations which is most active in the defence of communal land against forestry companies and which vindicates indigenous autonomy most rigorously. It is clear that the sentences are not only severely disproportionate however there are also political reasons behind their invention. The prisoners have now begun another hunger strike which started on the fifteenth March. At the time of writing this hunger strike continues. The prisoners defence will appeal against the sentences, presenting a call to declare the charges void to the Chilean Supreme Court of Justice. The principal arguments are that in these cases “faceless witnesses” were permitted. These secret witnesses are anonymous and the defence is not permitted to have any form of contact with them. Furthermore, during their detention and time in prison there have been violations of constitutional guarantees, confessions under torture, declarations outside of the allowed time limit and without the presence of defending lawyers. There has also been repeated trial for the same alleged crime. It is therefore that support groups from various parts of the world will impulse diverse actions of solidarity for the prisoners and pressure on the Chilean government. The objectives are to support the demand to declare the charges and trial void that have been declared against these four prisoners. In these actions we also send a message of solidarity to those prisoners on hunger strike. As part of these actions we also send another letter to you with the hope that we can once again count on your signature. We send you warm regards.
Support Organisation for the Mapuche political prisoners in Chile [ Mexican Section.] We, artists, academics, indigenous, civil and popular organisations of various nationalites wish to make public our concern for the sentences 176 against the Mapuch political prisoners in Chile, Ramón Llanquileo Pilquiman, José Huenuche, Jonathan Huillical y Héctor Llaitul. We find the enormous sentences against them alarming as well as the fact that they have not had the legal guarantees that protect the most basic of human rights. It must be considered that the State can not respond to indigenous demands of land, territory and autonomy by criminalising social protest. We call upon the Chilean State to guarantee the due and proper trial of the detained, a trial without the use of secret witnesses, with tribunal impartiality, dignified conditions of detainment and an end to repeated trial for the same alleged crimes. We call upon the Chilean State to the rights and basic guarantees of the Mapuche people, to recognise the rights of indigenous peoples consecrated in the 169th declaration of the WLO and to respond urgently to the demands of the hunger strikers. We send a message of solidarity from all over the world to the prisoners and their families.
autonomía! autogestión! horizontalidad! libertad!
Jovenes en Resistencia Alternativa www.espora.org/jra ciudad de méxico: 36266692
Void Network [Theory, Utopia, Empathy, Ephemeral Arts] http://voidnetwork.blogspot.com please send your messages of solidarity: the signs will be received in [email protected] for more info about the Mapuche Nation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mapuche for a short intro of the struggle of Mapuche in 21st century: http://www.13point7billion.org/2009/12/still-fighting-chiles-mapuche.html
Syrian protests turn deadly; 32 reported killed
By BASSEM MROUE and ZEINA KARAM, Associated Press April 8, 2011
BEIRUT – Mass protests calling for sweeping changes in Syria's authoritarian regime turned deadly Friday, with the government and protesters both claiming heavy casualties as the country's three-week uprising entered a dangerous new phase. 177
The bloodiest clashes occurred in the restive city of Daraa, where human rights activists and witnesses said Syrian security forces opened fire on tens of thousands of protesters, killing 25 people and wounding hundreds.
At the same time, state-run TV said 19 policemen and members of the security forces were killed when gunmen opened fire on them. It was the first significant claim of casualties by the Syrian government, which has contended that armed gangs rather than true reform-seekers are behind the unrest — and it could signal plans for a stepped-up retaliation.
The protests were in response to calls by organizers to take to the streets every Friday to demand change in one of the most rigid nations in the Middle East. Marches were held in cities across the country as the movement showed no sign of letting up, despite the violent crackdowns.
At least 32 protesters were killed nationwide, according to human rights activists. The bloodshed lifted the death toll from three weeks of protests to more than 170 people, according to Amnesty International.
The calls for reform have shaken the regime of President Bashar Assad, whose family has ruled Syria for more than 40 years. Assad, a British-trained eye doctor, inherited power from his father 11 years ago and tried to help the country emerge from years of international isolation and lift Soviet-style economic restrictions.
But despite early promises of social and political change, Assad has slipped back into the autocratic ways of his father.
As the wave of protests have gathered steam, Assad has offered some limited concessions — firing local officials and forming committees to look into replacing the country's despised emergency laws, which allow the regime to arrest people without charge. On Thursday, he granted citizenship to thousands of Kurds, fulfilling a decades-old demand of the country's long-ostracized minority.
But those gestures have failed to mollify a growing movement that is raising the ceiling on its demands for concrete reforms and free elections.
"The protests are about Syrians wanting freedom after 42 years of repression," said Murhaf Jouejati, a Syria expert at George Washington University. "Mr. Assad may fire all the people he wants, this still doesn't touch on the basic issues and the basic demands of the protesters."
Witness accounts out of Syria could not be independently confirmed because the regime has restricted media access to the country, refusing to grant visas to journalists and detaining or expelling reporters already in the country. Daraa has largely been sealed off and telephone calls go through only sporadically.
But residents, who spoke to The Associated Press independently of each other, said mosques were turned into makeshift hospitals to help tend to hundreds of wounded.
One man who helped ferry the dead and wounded to the city's hospital said he counted at least 13 corpses.
178 "My clothes are soaked with blood," he said by telephone from Daraa. Like most activists and witnesses, he requested anonymity for fear of reprisals.
A nurse at the hospital said they had run out of beds; many people were being treated on the floor or in nearby mosques.
Videos posted on YouTube showed demonstrations in at least 15 towns, large and small, across the country. The videos could not be independently confirmed, but they appeared to show the most widespread gatherings since protests began.
Ammar Qurabi, who heads Syria's National Organization for Human Rights, said 32 people were killed nationwide: 25 in Daraa, three in the central city of Homs, three in the Damascus suburb of Harasta and one in the suburb of Douma.
Douma has become a flashpoint after eight people were shot dead there last Friday.
One activist said tens of thousands protested and dispersed peacefully in the early afternoon, but he saw security forces open fire later in the evening as a group tried to enter Douma. He said he saw security forces taking a body away.
Protests were also reported in Latakia, which has a potentially volatile mix of different religious groups. The city has seen violence in recent weeks, and some fear it could take on a dangerous sectarian tone in Latakia.
Syria had appeared immune to the unrest sweeping the Arab world until three weeks ago, when security forces arrested a group of high school students who scrawled anti-government graffiti on a wall in Daraa.
Protests then exploded in cities across the country.
A city of about 300,000 near the border with Jordan, Daraa is suffering sustained economic effects from a yearslong drought.
___
AP writers Elizabeth A. Kennedy and Diaa Hadid in Cairo contributed to this report.
Yemen's Saleh again rejects move to replace him
By Mohamed Sudam and Mohammed Ghobari – Reuters Fri Apr 8, 2011
SANAA (Reuters) – Protests in Yemen descended into violence on Friday in which at least four people were killed and dozens wounded as President Ali Abdullah Saleh rejected a Gulf Arab plan to secure an end to his 32 years in power.
Saleh, facing an unprecedented challenge from hundreds of thousands of protesters, initially accepted an offer by Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab states, as part of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), to hold talks with the opposition.
179 On Wednesday, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani said the GCC would strike a deal for Saleh to leave.
But on Friday, Saleh told tens of thousands of supporters in the capital Sanaa "We don't get our legitimacy from Qatar or from anyone else ... we reject this belligerent intervention."
Frustration with the impasse may push the thousands of Yemenis who have taken to the streets closer to violence. Two protesters were shot dead on Friday, bringing the death toll from clashes with security forces this week to at least 23.
"I don't think the GCC or the West want Yemen to go down the road of Libya, because that's exactly where it's going," said Theodore Karasik, an analyst at the Dubai based INEGMA group.
"The more entrenched Saleh gets, the greater the outside pressure, so this could really illustrate how much influence outside powers actually have over Yemen."
Clashes broke out in Taiz between hundreds of protesters and security forces who fired gunshots and tear gas. Two protesters were shot dead and 25 wounded by gunfire, doctors said. Some 200 were hurt by tear gas inhalation.
The protesters were carrying to the cemetery the bodies of five people killed earlier in the week when police halted them.
In the port city of Aden, once the capital of an independent south, police fired shots to disperse thousands of protesters. Some 15,000 gathered in the Red Sea port of Hudaida to demand Saleh quit and mourn six killed in protests there on Monday.
"We're tired of this poverty and oppression in Hudaida and all of Yemen," said protester Abdullah Fakira. "Enough already."
Some 40 percent of Yemen's 23 million people live on less than $2 a day and a third face chronic hunger. Poverty and exasperation with rampant corruption drove the pro-democracy protests that began over two months ago, protesters say.
AL QAEDA FEARS
Even before the protests erupted, inspired by regional uprisings, Saleh was struggling to quell a separatist rebellion in the south and a Shi'ite insurgency in the north. The violence could give al Qaeda's Yemen-based regional wing more room to operate.
All this adds to concern about stability in a country that sits on a shipping lane through which more than three million barrels of oil pass each day.
On Friday, local officials from Abyan, a center of militancy, told Reuters that troops were trying to retake the city of Jaar, from which they retreated two weeks ago saying they had been overpowered by militants.
Security forces surrounded Jaar with tanks and artillery and clashed with "jihadist militants" who appeared to have fled, one official said. He said troops would soon enter the city. 180
The United States and Yemen's key financial backer, Saudi Arabia, both targets of attempted attacks by al Qaeda's Yemen-based branch, appear ready to push aside their long-time ally to avoid a chaotic collapse.
Apparently trying to avoid a snub to Saleh's main backer, a presidential aide told Reuters Saleh's comments were not aimed at Saudi Arabia's offer to host GCC mediated talks.
"The president welcomes the efforts of our brothers in the Gulf to solve the crisis but rejects statements from the Qatari prime minister which he considers interference in Yemen's affairs," the aide said.
U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner released a statement saying Washington welcomed the initiative.
"We strongly encourage all sides to engage in this urgently needed dialogue to reach a solution supported by the Yemeni people," he said. "President Saleh has publicly expressed his willingness to engage in a peaceful transition of power; the timing and form of this transition should be identified through negotiation and begin soon."
The Wall Street Journal said Washington froze its largest aid package to Yemen in February, worth $1 billion or more over several years.
The Washington Post said a Yemeni opposition party leader had told a U.S. embassy official in Sanaa there had been a secret plan to oust Saleh less than two years ago.
COMPETING DEMONSTRATIONS
Pro-democracy protesters held a "Friday of firmness" in Sanaa, shouting "You're next, you leader of the corrupt," as armored vehicles and security forces deployed across the city.
Some 4 km (2.5 miles) away, tens of thousands of Saleh loyalists marched, waving pictures of the president and banners that read "No to terrorism, no to sabotage."
Around 700 riot police took up position close to General Ali Mohsen's forces. The veteran commander defected from Saleh weeks ago, and his troops are protecting a Sanaa protest camp. He said again on Friday he would not try to take over the country, as some diplomats had suggested.
The defense ministry said Mohsen's forces killed two pro-Saleh demonstrators in Sanaa. Mohsen's forces were not immediately available for comment. A Sanaa doctor confirmed two people were killed but had no information on their attackers.
Talks with the opposition to negotiate a transition stalled weeks ago, and the GCC initiative is having trouble obtaining agreement from the parties.
"We want this regime to go. Enough lying and oppression. The initiative came late and the only initiative we want is one to make him step down," said Mahfouz Salam, 45, a Sanaa protester.
The GCC plan would guarantee one key Saleh demand -- that he and his family get immunity from prosecution -- an opposition source said on Thursday, but youth activists rejected the idea. 181
(Additional reporting by Khaled al-Mahdi in Taiz and Mohammed Mukhashaf in Aden; Writing by Erika Solomon; Editing by Nick Macfie and Tim Pearce)
Dozens of raids as new investigation against anarchists begins (Italy)
April 6, 2011 325
Breaking news from the mainstream media, treat with caution:
The Digos, the Italian political police, in the city of Bologna, have executed an operation investigating frequent visitors to the Bologna activist circle ‘Fuoriluogo’. The provision for the operation was decided by the prosecutor of Bologna within an inquiry carried out by the Bologna Digos.
Whilst this morning, more than 300 police have carried out searches in Bologna, Ferrara, Modena, Rome, Padova, Trento, Reggio Calabria, Ancona, Turin, Lecce, Naples, Trieste, Genoa, Teramo, Forli, Ravenna and Milan. The comrades under investigation are accused of belonging to a ‘subversive association for criminal intent’. 60 searches are reported, resulting, so far, in 12 people under precautionary measures and one arrest according to media.
The immense operation in all Italy regards ‘anarcho-insurrectionalist’ militants in the typical jargon of the press. In addition, the indication regarding an anarchist link in relation to the attack perpetrated against ENI Bologna on 29 March 2011 is reported by the mainstream media as being used by the Digos as a pretext for the Bologna repression wave. The oil company was attacked with multiple incendiary devices and despite no claim or ‘evidence’ being found, the Digos are trying to link it to another attack in the week prior, against IBM’s offices in Bologna, which was claimed by the Earth Liberation Front (ELF).
More clear news to follow from the comrades there…
Off Parole; On With Life: A Full Pardon March & Rally for the Scott Sisters by Asinia Lukata Chikuyu - 6 April 2011
On the strength of about 500 enthusiastic college students, national justice advocates, and local organizers, Jamie and Gladys Scott stood strong on the steps of the Mississippi State Capitol and requested that governor haley barbour finish what he started. On January 7, 2011, The Scott Sisters were released from the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility by the governor to save the state the embarrassment of their continued incarceration with potential death looping over Jamie Scott due to kidney failure. At the same time, the governor wanted to save the state the cost of providing for the kidney transplant he order as a condition of the suspended sentence in granted the Scott Sisters.
On Friday, April 1, 2011 the Scott Sisters asked haley barbour to allow them to move on with their lives. They told governor barbour that 16 years and 32 days was more than enough time served for a crime that they didn’t commit. They told haley that they wanted to vote, go on a get acquainted retreat with their children and grandchildren. They said they wanted to devote their lives to improving the quality of life for others wrongfully incarcerated. To do these things, they said they needed to have freedom of movement and freedom of opportunity to seek gainful 182 employment. They needed the governor to show compassion and grant them a full pardon.
The Scott Sisters said they needed to get "Off Parole and On With Life". And that was the main chant of the 500 supporters who marched the streets of downtown Jackson and stood at the Capitol Building as colonnade columns, like the ones in the pyramids, for Jamie and Gladys. The students from Fort Valley State University, Tougaloo College and Jackson State University stood tall with The Scott Sisters to urging governor barbour to grant a full pardon out of righteousness.
After freeing five men who actually committed murder, the crowd exhorted haley to earnestly consider the light his decision will shed on the image of mississippi. Given the shameful history of this state, it was pointed out the healing and redemptive quality of a compassionate decision in favor of Jamie and Gladys would have on this state and this nation. Getting Jamie and Gladys "Off Parole and On With Life" could be a shining star for a brighter future for them, the state and the nation, if only the governor could be convinced. Call the governor’s office requesting a full pardon at 601.359.3150 or 1-877-405.0733 or email the governor to request a full pardon at [email protected]
As Afrikans in america continue to fight for freedom, justice and equity, we are fighting because - "We declare our right on this earth to be a human being, to be respected as a human being, to be given the rights of a human being in this society, on this earth, in this day, which we intend to bring into existence by any means necessary". And we are sick and tired of being the only ones showing respect. That is why we’re here without fear and we want our sisters totally free. That is why we will be back here on September 15, 2011 again, bigger and stronger, if it is necessary to convince the state that denying justice to Jamie and Gladys is a threat to justice for all of us. On September 15th we’ll be facing the rising sun of our new day begun, let us march on 'til victory is won. Our prayer is "may we forever stand, true to our God, true to our native land".
DON'T FORGET TO SIGN THE ONLINE PETITION! http://www.change.org/petitions/a-full-pardon-for-jamie-gladys- scott#?opt_new=t&opt_fb=f
Asinia Lukata Chikuyu FREE YOUR MIND... & see what follows
AFRIKAN TRUTH BE TOLD (Afrikan_TBT) for the love of our people
BROTHA LUKATA The Challenge - "Impress Me! w/ your deeds, not your words" Saturday, April 09, 2011
Enemies Unknown
[col. writ. 3/26/11] (c) '11 Mumia Abu-Jamal
183 It is a measure of how powerful the U.S. military is, and how poor the media is, that the nation wages war against peoples and countries it knows nothing about. All it apparently takes is a media campaign, calling someone a 'monster', a 'thug', or the clincher, a Hitler, and bombers begin hitting the skies. It does it, gets chastened or beaten, vows not to do it again, and of course, does it again -- and again. When U.S. forces struck Vietnam (after a lie about an attack in the Gulf of Tonkin), it did so almost as an afterthought; to assist a beaten European ally (France), and in support of what scholars and analysts called 'the domino theory', as if, if Vietnam 'fell', all of Asia would quickly tumble -- like dominoes. This theory, like many such ones in support of Imperial wars, was false. Decades later, one of the war's foremost hawks, Defense Secretary Robert Strange McNamara, would admit that American leaders knew next to nothing about Vietnam, its language, history or culture, and that such ignorance made victory virtually impossible. Then Somalia. Then Iraq. Now Libya. How many of us know that much of the internal war is driven by tribal conflicts? That one of the major eastern tribes, the Senussi, lost power and influence when King Idris was overthrown in 1969 by the Free Officers Movement, of which Col. Kaddafi was a part? That many of them don't want democracy but the old kingdom restored? That many flew flags of the House of Idris -- a western puppet like Farouk of Egypt or the Shah of Iran -- during initial rebellions? Does it seem strange that western so-called democracies are fighting on the side of kings? Oh -- and backwards, poor Libya. Did you know that Libya has the highest per capita GOP in Africa -- even higher than South Africa?? Or that it had one of the highest literacy rates in the Arab world? (Almost 20% higher than Egypt?) I didn't either. I read it (in a relatively obscure British journal). And to check it out, I looked it up. We don't know, because it's not in the interest of the corporate forces which owns and utilizes the media, or for us to know. 10 years after the Afghanistan war started, and 8 years after the Iraq war began, and we haven't learned a damned thing.
Report from court hearings of “Khimki hostages”
Apr8, 2011 khimkibattle.org
184 On March 14 and 23, 2010 two court hearings in the case of antifascists Alexei Gaskarov and Maxim Solopov who were accused of organizing attack on the Khimki City Administration, took place at the Khimki City Court.
Accusation against Alexei and Maxim is absurd and based on false evidence of three alleged eyewitnesses identifying them as persons participated in the riots. However, during the investigation Alexei Gaskarov, Institute of Collective Action correspondent, passed a polygraph test which showed that he didn’t lie and participated in the riots. Besides, the case materials contain a large number of photos and detailed video which completely refute the Prosecution’s Case.
As for Maxim, he doesn’t deny his participation in the action; however he notes that he hasn’t committed any unlawful acts. His arguments are supported by a number of witness testimonies as well as he isn’t also captured in the photos and videos. The State Prosecution alleges that he was in mask, its argument is supported by the testimony of three witnesses.
During the preliminary hearing Prosecutor Olga Egorova read out the indictment which Solopov and Gaskarov disagreed with and noted that none of investigators’ arguments was supported by evidence against the suspects. The trial was postponed to March 23 due to the absence of key witnesses and victims’ representative.
Besides, it was revealed that Shevelev, representative of the aggrieved party (Khimki Administration), who had also failed to appear in court, wasn’t currently the Administration employee.
During the second hearing one of the key witnesses, resident of Yubileinoye town (Moscow region) Alexei Pitel was questioned. He and his friend Maxim Khramov, another prosecution witness, accidentally found themselves in Khimki, having arrived there from the center of Moscow by car together with two girls they were barely familiar with. According to the witnesses, the girls “flaked” them, but along the way they encountered a column of antifascists going to attack the Khimki Administration. It should be noted that Pitel had extremely bad memory and answered “I don’t remember” to most questions. Thus, he hasn’t remembered what the girls and the Administration looked like. He also didn’t recognized Maxim Solopov in court although he had identified him during the investigation and confrontation procedures. At the same time Solopov stated that he had never seen Pitel and the confrontation procedure had been carried out with another person.
The only one Pitel has remembered for 8 months after the events of July 28 was Alexei Gaskarov who had allegedly thrown something into the Administration building, then while passing by Pitel, had taken off the mask. However he has remembered neither his face nor the color of the mask.
When Pitel’s testimony, given during the preliminary investigation, identification and confrontation procedures, was read out at the request of the State Prosecution, it was revealed that Pitel had remembered Gaskarov’s face because he hadn’t been wearing the mask at the moment of the commission of the unlawful acts. However he identified him by his body features. He hasn’t remembered what Gaskarov was wearing.
It should be noted that during the hearing it was revealed that Pitel had been tried for theft several years before. 185 Two other prosecution witnesses Sergey Smirnov and Anastasiya Krivoshanova, journalists, public activists, and spouses, changed their testimony given during the preliminary investigation. They explained that they had been forced to testify against Solopov and Gaskarov due to threats and psychological pressure exerted on them by investigators. According to Smirnov and Krivoshanova, first investigators attempted to force them to testify against Yevgenia Chirikova, leader of the Khimki Forest Protection Movement, and a famous antifascist Alexei Olesinov, however they later ceased to mention them. Sergey and Anastasia filed a complaint about pressure exerted on them during the preliminary investigation to the Prosecutor’s Office; however it has refused to initiate criminal proceedings against the investigators.
The next hearing, where the remaining prosecution witnesses are to be questioned as well as the defense witnesses’ questioning is to begin, is scheduled to take place at the Khimki City Court on April 14.
The guard told me ‘you are nothing like the Muslim prisoners’. He was wrong by Andy Stepanian on April 7, 2011 mondoweiss
My friend Noor (above left) has beautiful eyes, but today they look sad. Noor's grandfather passed away and she has had no way of letting her father know because the simple forms of communication all of us take for granted can't help her reach out to her father with this news. Noor's father, Ghassan Elashi, (at right) is a political prisoner incarcerated in a highly restrictive and secretive federal prison program called the Communications Management Unit (CMU), in which I was also incarcerated.
186 Ghassan is imprisoned for providing humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza, a selfless deed that the Bush administration argued was analogous to indirectly supporting Hamas, by sending charity to Zakat Committees that prosecutors allege were fronts for Hamas. In the same year US AID, The Red Cross, the UN and dozens of other NGOs contributed to the same Zakat committee to which Ghassan and his charity, The Holy Land Foundation, is accused of giving aid. The US attorney's office appeared to be selectively applying one's freedom to give, and selectively prosecuting some charitable groups, while sliding on others. For this alleged charity, Ghassan is being denied all contact with the outside world and the news that comes from it, including the news of his father-in-law's passing. The Communications Management Unit is a designer penal program that focuses specifically on isolating and silencing its inmates. The demographic of the CMU's designees is made up of an overwhelming 64% Muslim majority and a smaller minority group of designees that have either highly politicized cases or ones with abundant press attention. This apparent racial disparity and the political nature of these prisons was the focus of a recent two-part investigation on National Public Radio entitled "Guantanamo North." CMU inmates are isolated and silenced by administrative segregation and through heavy vetting or complete denial of contact with the outside world. To make things worse for Ghassan, he was recently stripped of what little communication he was previously able to have with his loved ones from within the CMU, and is now being denied all phone calls, all visits, and all emails. The United States prides itself on not having any political prisoners and yet the federal CMU programs in Marion, Illinois, Terre-Haute, Indiana, and the Administrative-Maximum Unit at Carswell, Texas (an institution for female inmates) are filled with a disproportionate amount of inmates who are Muslim, and a smaller group of non-Muslims with cases related to tax protests, environmental advocacy, and animal rights activism, all of which are considered political causes. The CMU violates federal designation protocols because most of the inmates sent to the CMU have federal custody classification points congruent with that of prisoners normally designated to low and minimum security prison facilities, and yet they are housed in conditions that at times exceed that of the US's most restrictive "super-max" prison, ADX in Florence, Colorado. (See Alia Malek's story, Gitmo in the Heartland, in the Nation.) When the CMU was first implemented it may have been done so illegally because it side-stepped the Administrative Procedures Act (a law that demands that federal programs such as these must first be brought to the attention of congress and made available for public comment.) Moreover the Center For Constitutional Rights has argued in Aref v. Holder that the CMU violates constitutionally mandated laws of due process because as of yet there is no administrative process to challenge an inmate’s designation to or transfer out of a CMU. Ghassan Elashi was accused of providing humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza through his charity The Holy Land Foundation. Specifically, the government alleges that Ghassan's charitable contributions of humanitarian aid could be deemed as indirect criminal material support of Hamas under the newly redesigned and over-broad Material Support for Terrorists statute. When Ghassan was arrested in 2004, he immediately saw a Dallas judge and was released pending trial because the judge determined that he would not be considered a threat to the community or a flight risk. Ghassan stood trial once in Dallas in 2007, was acquitted on some of the counts levied against him and the jury deadlocked on the remaining counts against him. A mistrial was declared on the counts the jury could not render a verdict upon and only after a second trial in 2008 were Ghassan and 4 other men found guilty of allegedly giving Material Support for Palestinians. Ghassan was later sentenced in 2009 to 65 years in federal prison. Noor, who has often told me "I am my father's daughter," is currently working on a memoir about her father's experience with the working title Eyes Like My Father. Noor's pen is her expression and in her 187 writing, she seeks to provide her father a voice. Noor works tirelessly to advocate for her father while he awaits appeal, and continues her father's work towards a free and peaceful Palestine by using the mediums she knows best, visual arts, design, and the written and spoken word. As a graduate student at The New School in Manhattan, Noor has combined all of these mediums in a program called Project Palestine, an initiative by New School students to re-center Palestine in contemporary dialogue. Project Palestine's monthly programs began in the fall and the programming continues to outdo itself each month, by bringing artists, poets, writers, scholars, and musicians to the school's midtown NYC campus. One of the programs, Mainstreaming Palestine, consisted of a panel of artists moderated by a student, a performance by Israeli-born hip hop artist by way of Detroit named Invincible, a talk from documentarian Fida Qishta, and a reading from a young woman from Oklahoma named Pamela Olson, who shared excerpts from her new book Fast Times in Palestine, a recollection of her experiences as a press coordinator for a Palestinian presidential candidate. Hundreds of New Yorkers from all walks of life, all religions, identity, race, and orientation attended the program helping to build an open-ended community dialogue around the continued plight of Palestinians. Re-centering Palestine in contemporary dialogue is of the utmost importance to Noor and through her work with Project Palestine, she is able to connect with and reach out to additional supporters who view the issue as having been a polarizing force for far too long in the hands of extremists on both sides of the Arab- Israeli conflict. I recently attended one of Project Palestine's programs at The New School and Noor invited me to join her and her friends for a cup of coffee afterwards. Noor introduces me to her friends--they are Iraqi, Jewish, Korean, a wildly diverse group that transcends all boundaries of race, ethnicity, and identity. Noor wears a contemporary and stylish hijab but some of her friends who are Muslim do not. Noor is not to be pigeon-holed, nor can the group at this table be. They are a new generation of American justice seekers who are able to look past what those in power on both sides of the green line sometimes can't and to see the hearts of the people with whom they share a table. I could only imagine what the world would look like if the microcosm at this table was projected upon the rest of society. One of the women at the table asks me if I was in the CMU with Noor's father. I explain that I was not, that I was released about a month before he was transferred there. She then asks me to explain what it was like. I did not know if I had it in me to fully explain and I worried about revisiting it in front of Noor, considering that this time out with friends over coffee could be a pleasant distraction away from the pain of thinking about her father. Fighting back tears felt like a rock rested in the back of my throat. In 2008 I spent the last six months of a three-year federal sentence for animal advocacy activism in the CMU in Marion, Illinois. The guards called me a "balancer," presumably to offset the numbers in an anti-discrimination lawsuit the Bureau of Prisons is now facing. During the half a year I spent there I was told in confidence that I was, "nothing like these Muslim terrorists" and that I "would be going home shortly." Indeed I did go home, but Ghassan Elashi and nearly sixty other men with stories similar to his have yet to come home. That guard was gravely mistaken when he said I was "nothing like" those men. While I am not a Muslim, I am everything like those men. And just like them I felt the same uncontrollable sadness and anxiety when I could not use the phone to call home, when I could not touch my wife, or talk with my mother. Those men had stories exaggerated by prosecutors just as I did, their cases were compounded by politics and amplified by sensationalism in the press just like mine was. At the end of the day they were fathers, husbands, brothers, and friends who yearned to be free with their loved ones again as much as I did. These men showed such grace and selflessness towards each other and to strangers like me despite the glaring injustice and political repression inside the CMU. Showing empathy towards these men and attempting to understand what it would be like to be in their shoes does not mean that one needs to have a bleeding heart. I lose sleep thinking of the men at the CMU with no way out--the ones with long sentences, the ones with administrative holds against them, 188 the Palestinian stateless citizens who the US refuses to release on its soil and no other country is willing to accept them. I knew of Noor for about four months before I finally reached out to her. I wondered if talking to her as someone who was where her father is now would be supportive and helpful to her. We met over coffee and I was not sure what to say when I saw her so I asked her if it was OK if I hugged her. I suddenly remembered what it felt like to sit in my cell thinking about hugging my wife again and then I thought of Ghassan. My head buzzed with possible things to talk about. I wanted to tell her everything was going to be all right yet I was certain that I didn’t know if that was true or not. I wanted to say the most encouraging things even though something malignant was gnawing away at her. She smiled at me. Her resilience was surreal. Writing about the CMU consumes me emotionally. I pray that I can lend the best voice to Ghassan and all of these men stripped from their loved ones; it scares me to think that my voice is only one of a few who are willing to advocate on their behalf. They need more voices to demand accountability and reconciliation from our governing powers. They need you to break the silence of this secretive unit, to talk about it over dinner and to work draw it into the national discourse. Imagine being told you can't speak to your father. Imagine what it would feel like to not know whether or not he was well, if he was hurt, sick, or simply needed someone to talk to. Imagine living your life in constant fear of never being able to touch him again. This is how Noor feels everyday. I remember vividly how it felt to be inside the CMU and to want so desperately to hug my wife and yet I can only imagine how it must feel to be a father in that situation. Ghassan deserves to be free to be with Noor again. For many people the grief would be debilitating, but in Noor's case we see the opposite--she shares with the world a renewed zeal to continue her father's struggle from outside the prison gates through creative dialogue and grassroots community building. When I ask her where she derives such resilience, she simply says that she "is her father's daughter." Reading her father's sentencing transcript reveals a man who was deeply patriotic, incredibly charitable and a shining example of what it means to be a strong, moral person. America should not bury Ghassan behind razor wire, concrete, and steel bars, instead we each should strive to mirror the brave example he and Noor have set for us to follow. Stepanian is the co-founder of The Sparrow Project, a grassroots PR outfit that aims to braid popular culture, the arts, and revolutionary activism. In 2002 The Financial Times characterized SHAC as “succeeding where Karl Marx, the Baader-Meinhof gang and the Red Brigades failed.” Their actions drew the attention of Wall Street and the FBI resulting in a politically charged free speech case called the SHAC 7 trial where Stepanian and 5 others were charged and convicted as terrorists for their activism. Sentenced to 3 years in prison, Stepanian spent his last 6.5 months in a secretive federal prison program that NPR would later name ‘Guantanamo North’. Stepanian’s activism as part of the SHAC7 is the subject of a feature-length documentary due out in 2012 from Finngate Pictures. Since his release from prison Stepanian works for a publisher, consults for social justice groups, and speaks on his experiences at universities.
Russian anti-fascist sentenced to two years in prison avtonom.org
Anti-fascist Rinat Sultanov was sentenced to two years in prison yesterday in St. Petersburg, for causing “grievous bodily ham to a Nazi during a fight, which took place 4th of November (“Day of national unification”, main convergence day of Russian Nazis) three years ago. Rinat Sultanov was born and spent his childhood in city of Labytnangi of the far-northern Siberia, where he finished his school. In 2002, he enrolled to St. Petersburg college of telecommunications 189 with a speciality of programming. Due to financial problems he could not finished his education, but he stayed in St. Petersburg, he visited his relatives in Northern Siberia each year, and also helped them financially. During this time Rinat changed his workplace for several times, educated himself and learned several professions. While still in school, Rinat got interested about state of affairs in the country. He set up first website of his region, “Anti-fascism should be radical”, where he published leaflets, music and movie links.
>From a letter from Rinat in November of 2010:
“I do not think it makes difference who is who, if we all live under one sky and walk on one earth, and when the time comes and nature around us will be lost, so how may people consider important ones skin color and worldview..” In 2006, Rinat became acquintanced with anarchists and anti-fascists of St. Petersburg. He immediately joined the struggle against the state, he spread stickers, leaflets, made graffiti and joined anti-fascist actions and anarchist demonstrations. He supported Food Not Bombs, often visited weekly pickets against war in Chechnya in Nevski prospekt, helped to prepare protests against G8 summit of 2006 in the city. 10th of July of that year, before the summit, Rinat and three German activists were arrested in flat of an activist of St. Petersburg league of anarchists. Police officers were verbally abusing Rinat and beating him, demanding testimony without a protocol, however Rinat did not gave any names. Eventually Rinat got 10 days sentence with fabricated misdemeanor charges. Rinat was not scared by repressions and stayed active in the movement. Rinat is a vegetarian for ethical reasons. He took often part to animal rights actions, and helped to organise “A voice for animals”-festival in Petrozhavodsk in 2009. In 2008 he took active part to campaign against police brutality. During 2009, he was involved in several squats in St. Petersburg.
A quote from a letter of Rinat from december 2010:
“Here (in prison) many people ask why I do not eat meat. Many think that vegetarians do not eat meat for religious reasons, but I tell them about other reasons, ecological among others. But besides me, nobody is yet refusing meat-based diet.”.
Rinat was arrested by officers of Center of Counter-action against Extremism (“E-center”) in night between 3rd and 4th of November 2010, before festival “City against fascism”. During festival, officers of E-center were threatening Rinat, demanding testimony against other people and confessing actions he did not committed. However Rinat stayed strong under the pressure.
In few weeks, Rinat will be sent to a prison camp to his home region to do remainder of his sentence. But if you write him immediately, chances are that letters will still reach him:
Rinat Sultanov FBU IZ-47\4 ul. Lebedeva d. 39 195009 Saint-Petersburg Russia source: https://avtonom.org/en/node/15414
Anarchist Black Cross Moscow 190 abc-msk A riseup D net http://www.avtonom.org/abc http://www.facebook.com/abcmoscow http://www.twitter.com/abc_moscow http://www.myspace.com/abcmsc P.O. Box 13 109028 Moscow Russia
List of prisoners in former Soviet Union we support: http://wiki.golosa.info/en/index.php?title=Category:Prisoners_in_former_Soviet_Uni on
CMU lawsuit moving forward!
Court Vindicates Prisoners in Right to Challenge Federal Experimental Isolation Units Restricting Communication
Center for Constitutional Rights Wins Over Government Motion to Dismiss Case Involving Segregated Units That Target Muslims, Activists
CONTACT: [email protected]
March 30, 2011, New York – Today, prisoners in two experimental federal prison units called “Communications Management Units” (CMUs) won the right to have their day in court and challenge the violation of their fundamental constitutional rights, including the right to due process. The units are being used overwhelmingly to hold Muslim prisoners and prisoners with unpopular political beliefs. The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) filed the case on their behalf exactly one year ago on March 30, 2010.
Said CCR Attorney Alexis Agathocleous, “Today, Judge Urbina has agreed that our clients have raised serious constitutional questions about the CMUs, and has vindicated their right to a day in court to pursue their claims. Our clients were designated to the CMUs without due process or oversight, even though they have no significant history of disciplinary infractions. This led to pattern of retaliatory designations to the CMUs. In a significant victory for our clients, the court will now scrutinize the BOP’s actions.”
Said plaintiff Hedaya Jayyousi, “I am deeply gratified that the court will hear our claims. My husband has been held under these conditions for years without a proper explanation. My children and I hope that we will now be given some answers.”
Transfers to the CMU are not explained, nor are prisoners told how release into less restrictive confinement may be earned as there is no meaningful review process. The court agreed the plaintiffs had alleged conditions in the CMUs that were sufficiently restrictive to support their claim that they have a “liberty interest” in having the right to procedural due process.
The court wrote, “In light of the plaintiffs factual allegations supporting their contention that reviews provided by the defendants are ‘illusory’ and meaningless, the court determines that they have adequately alleged there is a high risk that the procedures used by the defendants have resulted in erroneous deprivations of their liberty interests.” 191
Lawyers say that because these transfers are not based on facts or discipline for infractions, a pattern of religious and political discrimination and retaliation for prisoners’ lawful advocacy has emerged.
The court allowed the claims of violation of due process as well as of retaliation to go forward. The court found that plaintiff Royal Jones made serious allegations that cannot be dismissed that he was put into the CMU in retaliation for protected speech, and speaking out and filing complaints about improper prison conditions. Similarly, the court found that allegations that plaintiff Daniel McGowan was twice designated to the CMU in retaliation for social justice advocacy and for seeking legal information from his attorneys could not be dismissed.
The court further refused to allow the BOP to evade review by transferring the Center for Constitutional Rights’ clients from the CMU. The court dismissed several of the claims raised by the lawsuit, including claims of equal protection, substantive due process, and freedom of association.
CCR filed Aref v. Holder in the D.C. District Court on behalf of current and former prisoners of the units in Terre Haute, IN and Marion, IL; two other plaintiffs are the spouses of those prisoners. The CMUs were secretly opened under the Bush administration in 2006 and 2007 respectively and were designed to monitor and control the communications of certain prisoners and to isolate them from other prisoners and the outside world. The five plaintiffs in Aref were designated to the two CMUs despite having relatively or totally clean disciplinary histories, and none of the plaintiffs have received any communications-related disciplinary infractions in the last decade. Between 65 and 72 percent of CMU prisoners are Muslim men.
In addition to heavily restricted telephone and visitation access, CMU prisoners are categorically denied any physical contact with family members and are forbidden from hugging, touching or embracing their children or spouses during visits.
For information about CCR’s federal lawsuit around CMUs, visit the Aref, et al v. Holder, et al case page or www.ccrjustice.org/cmu.
The law firm Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP and attorney Kenneth A. Kreuscher are co-counsel in the case.
Media: Updated CMU story on lawsuit here: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo- way/2011/03/30/134984393/judge-allows-suit-over-restrictions-on- inmates-to-go-forward
ROSES AND BREAD Annual Women’s Open Poetry and performance event April 15
Friday, April 15 · 6:30pm - 10:00pm
Location
192
The Commons *
388 Atlantic Avenue
The Women of Resistance in Brooklyn (RnB) and Their Friends Invite You to
ROSES AND BREAD 16th Annual Women’s Open Poetry and performance event ... This is an event for WOMEN and TRANS folks only.
Featuring Mimi LaValley and many more!
Friday, April 15, 2011 Door opens at 6:30 p.m. Program runs 7-9 p.m. Donation: $10, $15, $20 • more if you can, less if you can’t Refreshments
This year’s celebration will be a benefit for Jamie and Gladys Scott, sisters recently released from a Mississippi prison, where they had been serving double life sentences, since 1994, for armed robbery. Released to save the taxpayers the health care costs for ailing Jamie Scott, on the condition sister Gladys donate a kidney, they continue to “pay” for a crime they didn’t commit--$52 a month, each, forever, for private parole monitors to keep an eye on them. Check out http://freethescottsisters.blogspot.com/.
To sign up to perform, to reserve seats, and/or to confirm childcare, please call 718-783-8141.
Resistance in Brooklyn is an anti-sexist, anti-racist, and anti-imperialist affinity group.
*By train: Hoyt-Schermerhorn (A, C and G); Bergen Street (F); Atlantic-Pacific (B, M, Q, R, 2, 3, 4 and 5); Flatbush Avenue (LIRR). By bus: B63 and B65. See More
Call Obama, Holder and Fitzgerald April 12. Stop the Grand Jury!
Call Obama, Holder and Fitzgerald April 12. Stop the Grand Jury!
NATIONAL CALL-IN DAY to Fitzgerald, Holder and Obama Tuesday, April 12, 2011
The Grand Jury is still on its witch hunt and the FBI is still harassing activists. This must stop. Please make these calls: 1. Call U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald at 312-353-5300. Then dial 0 (zero) for operator and ask to leave a message with the Duty Clerk. 2. Call U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder 202-353-1555 3. Call President Obama at 202-456-1111
Suggested text: "My name is ______, I am from 193 ______(city), in ______(state). I am calling _____ to demand he call off the Grand Jury and stop FBI repression against the anti-war and Palestine solidarity movements. I oppose U.S. government political repression and support the right to free speech and the right to assembly of the 23 activists subpoenaed. We will not be criminalized. Tell him to stop this McCarthy-type witch hunt against international solidarity activists!"
If your call doesn't go through, try again later.
Update: More than 1400 activists have signed the Pledge to resist FBI and Grand Jury Repression (via the web or the paper version at local protests), committing to join the national day of protest when anti-war and international solidarity activists are ordered to appear in front of the Chicago Grand Jury or are indicted.
By signing, you will be on the priority contact list for the emergency action.
We demand: -- Call Off the Grand Jury Witch-hunt Against International Solidarity Activists! -- Support Free Speech! -- Support the Right to Organize! -- Stop FBI Repression! -- International Solidarity Is Not a Crime! -- Stop the Criminalization of Arab and Muslim Communities!
Background: Fitzgerald ordered FBI raids on anti-war and solidarity activists' homes and subpoenaed fourteen activists in Chicago, Minneapolis, and Michigan on September 24, 2010. All 14 refused to speak before the Grand Jury in October. Then, 9 more Palestine solidarity activists, most Arab-Americans, were subpoenaed to appear at the Grand Jury on January 25, 2011, launching renewed protests. There are now 23 who assert their right to not participate in Fitzgerald’s witch-hunt.
The Grand Jury is a secret and closed inquisition, with no judge, and no press. The U.S. Attorney controls the entire proceedings and hand picks the jurors, and the solidarity activists are not allowed a lawyer. Even the date when the Grand Jury ends is a secret.
So please make these calls to those in charge of the repression aimed against anti-war leaders and the growing Palestine solidarity movement.
Email us to let us know your results. Send to [email protected]
In Struggle, Tom Burke, for the Committee to Stop FBI Repression
194 www.stopfbi.net
Thanks for your ongoing interest in the fight against FBI repression of anti-war and international solidarity activists! Our mailing address is: Committee to Stop FBI Repression PO Box 14183 Minneapolis, MN 55415
The Angola Three's long struggle for justice
On the basis of dubious convictions, these African American activists spent years in solitary. When will their nightmare end? by Steven Mather guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 5 April 2011
Angola prison in Louisiana: still segregated in 1972 when Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox were accused of murdering a prison guard, the prison was built on the site of a former slave plantation. Photograph: AP
The campaign to free the Angola Three reaches Washington, DC on 6 April. Albert Woodfox and Herman Wallace are the remaining two of the trio who are still locked up in solitary confinement. Later this month, 17 April will mark the 39th anniversary of the start of their nightmare. The campaign hits Capitol Hill not before time, as this summer Woodfox will appear in court for the last time to appeal against his conviction.
Congressman Cedric Richmond is to host a screening of a documentary, In the Land of the Free, directed by Vadim Jean and narrated by Samuel L Jackson, which brings to life the case – and the brutal day-to-day reality of Woodfox and Wallace's prison conditions. And Congressmen John Conyers and Bobby Scott will precede the documentary with a briefing on the horrors of solitary confinement. The one freed member of the Angola Three, Robert H King, will also speak. He was freed in 2001.
195 As members of the Black Panther party, they claim they were framed for the murder of prison guard Brent Miller in 1972. At the time, the three were organising politically against the brutalities of life in Angola prison, in the state of Louisiana. The Black Panther party was a militant political organisation that combined progressive social programmes in support of African American communities with a confrontational attitude towards the state. FBI boss J Edgar Hoover characterised them "the greatest threat to the internal security of the country".
Angola had been the site of a slave plantation before the Jim Crow era, and despite the civil rights campaigns of the 1950s and 60s, nothing much had changed by the 1970s when the Angola 3 were incarcerated. Angola was still segregated, just larger than ever.
Prior to Miller's death, Woodfox and Wallace, who were serving time for armed robbery, had formed a Black Panther chapter in the prison and were struggling against the regime of the biggest, bloodiest jail in the US. They staged a hunger strike and fought to protect young inmates from rape.
They were convicted of Miller's murder on the hearsay evidence of other prisoners. Evidence that might have proved their innocence, such as a fingerprint left at the scene, was suppressed. In time, even Miller's widow came to believe these men were not responsible for the murder of her husband.
King joined Woodfox and Wallace after he was transferred to Angola from another prison. Despite not even being in the prison at the time of Miller's murder, he was implicated. It was enough that he was a known Black Panther party activist. He spent 31 years in prison, 29 of those in solitary.
King was released after successfully fighting his conviction for murder and pleading guilty to a lesser charge, but Wallace and Woodfox remain in jail. Both men have also contested their convictions: Wallace's was recommended to be overturned by a Louisiana state judicial commissioner in 2006, but the case is still working its way through the appeals system. Woodfox has already had his case overturned twice, but was reconvicted partly on the basis of the transcribed testimony of the key witness in the original trial, Hezekiah Brown, a serial sex offender now deceased.
According to Tory Pegram of the International Coalition to Free the Angola Three, judges in both trials have raised "racial discrimination, prosecutorial misconduct, inadequate defence and suppression of exculpatory evidence" in their summing-up. Each time, the conviction has been reinstated on appeal – the state of Louisiana being the appelant. State Attorney General James "Buddy" Caldwell has called Woodfox "the most dangerous man on the planet", while Angola prison governor Burl Cain has stated on record that he wishes to see Woodfox and Wallace remain in solitary for the rest of their days. Cain has even acknowledged the political nature of Woodfox's solitary, saying he doesn't want Woodfox "walking around in my prison because he'd be organising young new inmates".
In the coming court hearing, Woodfox is challenging his conviction on constitutional grounds, claiming that the foreman of the grand jury that convicted him did not reflect the racial and gender makeup of Louisiana. If that fails, he is almost certainly to remain in prison for the rest of his life. The two have also launched a civil lawsuit on constitutional grounds against the 196 length and severity of their solitary confinement; after a decade, that case is due to be heard in 2011.
King hopes that first Woodfox, then Wallace, win their freedom. But he believes that the problems with US jails run much deeper than the particulars of the Angola Three's case. "This is just the tip of the iceburg," he says.
US Congressional Briefing on Angola 3 and Solitary Confinement
March 27, 2011 Angola 3 News
We are excited to announce that tomorrow there will be a US Congressional Briefing, in Washington DC, about the Angola 3 and the broader issue of solitary confinement, entitled “The Abuses of Solitary Confinement in the Criminal Justice System,” featuring Robert King (of the Angola 3, released in 2001 when his conviction was overturned), Congressmen John Conyers, Bobby Scott, Cedric Richmond, and more.
And, we are even more excited to announce that it was reported on today by the Guardian UK, which you can link to here.
Below is the official announcement from the International Coalition to free the Angola 3 (which Angola 3 News is a project of), including announcements of other A3 events around the country, and a fact sheet providing background on the case of the A3:
After years of legislative advocacy that resulted in significant support of the plight of the Angola 3 in DC, Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-LA), and Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA) have joined together to jointly sponsor a Congressional Briefing on “The Abuses of Solitary Confinement in the Criminal Justice System” scheduled for Wednesday, April 6th at 3:30pm in the Rayburn House Office Building Room 2226, followed by a screening of the A3 documentary “In the Land of the Free,” which features both Rep. Conyers and Rep. Richmond (download the event flyer here).
The Briefing panel will include experts on solitary from all over the country, including A3′s own Robert King, and a second panel discussion following the film will include Rep. Richmond, Robert King, and Carine Williams, a member of both the criminal and civil A3 Legal teams. The event will be moderated by Tory Pegram, Campaign Coordinator for the International Coalition to Free the Angola 3, and is open to the public.
We encourage you to both consider attending and contacting your Congressional Members and urging their official involvement in the event to help end abuses of solitary confinement in the US.
In addition to speaking out about the injustices in the case for years, 197 Rep. John Conyers and then Chair of the Louisiana Judiciary Committee, now Congressional Rep. Cedric Richmond, led a Congressional delegation to visit Herman and Albert in Angola in 2008. Their visit resulted in an unprecedented 8 month move of both men from solitary to a dorm. Although both Herman and Albert were unceremoniously transferred back to solitary only 8 months later without explanation or reason, both officials have remained involved in efforts to expose the Constitutional abuses rampant in their cases.
NEW ORLEANS
We’d like to invite you to be our special guest at the New Orleans debut of “In the Land of the Free,” at Warren Easton High School Auditorium at 7pm on Thursday, April 14th as a part of Patois: The New Orleans International Human Rights Film Festival. Robert King and Emily Maw, the Director of the New Orleans Innocence Project will lead a Q&A following the event.
Get your free tickets now! Just send your name and email to [email protected] and we will be happy to put your name on the will call list at the door. If you have any guests you’d like to bring, just send their names along too and we’ll do our best to accommodate them.
On April 17-18 please join us at the RAE Building to mark the 39th year anniversary of Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox’s unjust isolation in solitary confinement. 39 people will spend one hour each in a 6×9 ft replica cell. Our program of events over the weekend will also include:
- Screenings of documentaries In the Land of the Free and The Farm, followed by panels of former Black Panthers, artists and legal experts. - A display of arts & crafts from Angola inmates, and The House That Herman Built by Jackie Sumell and Herman Wallace - Undoing Racism workshop, round-table discussions, educational workshops with local high school students and a teach-in. - Theatrical excerpts from Angola 3, The Play written by Parnell Herbert, and Voices performances by Louisiana exonerees. - Press conference and vigil at dusk. - A book-signing by Robert King. - Musical entertainment by local performers.
For more info about the events in New Orleans, click here or visit: www.angola3action.org
The Case of the Angola Three
38 years ago, deep in rural Louisiana, three young black men were silenced for trying to expose continued segregation, systematic corruption, and 198 horrific abuse in the biggest prison in the US, an 18,000 acre former slave plantation called Angola.
Peaceful, non-violent protest in the form of hunger and work strikes organized by inmates caught the attention of Louisiana’s elected leaders and local media in the early 1970s. They soon called for investigations into a host of unconstitutional and extraordinarily inhumane practices commonplace in what was then the “bloodiest prison in the South.” Eager to put an end to outside scrutiny, prison officials began punishing inmates they saw as troublemakers.
At the height of this unprecedented institutional chaos, Herman Wallace, Albert Woodfox, and Robert King were charged with murders they did not commit and thrown into 6×9 foot solitary cells.
Robert was released in 2001, but Herman and Albert remain in solitary, continuing to fight for their freedom.
Despite a number of reforms achieved in the mid-70s, many officials repeatedly ignore both evidence of misconduct, and of innocence.
The State’s case is riddled with inconsistencies, obfuscations, and missteps. A bloody print at the murder scene does not match Herman, Albert or anyone charged with the crime and was never compared with the limited number of other prisoners who had access to the dormitory on the day of the murder.
Potentially exculpatory DNA evidence has been “lost” by prison officials—including fingernail scrapings from the victim and barely visible “specks” of blood on clothing alleged to have been worn by Albert.
Both Herman and Albert had multiple alibi witnesses with nothing to gain who testified they were far away from the scene when the murder occurred.
In contrast, several State witnesses lied under oath about rewards for their testimony. The prosecution’s star witness Hezekiah Brown told the jury: “Nobody promised me nothing.” But new evidence shows Hezekiah, a convicted serial rapist serving life, agreed to testify only in exchange for a pardon, a weekly carton of cigarettes, TV, birthday cakes, and other luxuries.
“Hezekiah was one you could put words in his mouth,” the Warden reminisced chillingly in an interview about the case years later.
Even the widow of the victim after reviewing the evidence believes Herman and Albert’s trials were unfair, has grave doubts about their guilt, and is calling upon officials to find the real killer.
199 In fact, Albert’s conviction has now been overturned twice by judges citing racial discrimination, prosecutorial misconduct, inadequate defense, and suppression of exculpatory evidence.
Sadly however, AEDPA-gutted habeas protections that limit federal power recently allowed the U.S. Court of Appeals to defer judgment to Louisiana, where seemingly vengeful prosecutors insist Albert is “the most dangerous person on the planet.”
In spite of this setback, the validity of Albert’s conviction is again under review due to apparent discrimination in the selection of a grand jury foreperson, an injustice that may finally set Albert free.
Although a State Judicial Commissioner similarly recommended reversing Herman’s conviction based on new, compelling evidence exposing prosecutorial misconduct and constitutional violations, the Louisiana Supreme Court denied his appeal without comment.
Undeterred, Herman has now turned to the Federal Courts to prove his innocence and win his freedom.
Meanwhile, Louisiana prison officials stubbornly refuse to release them from solitary because “there’s been no rehabilitation” from “practicing Black Pantherism.”
Nearly a decade ago Herman, Albert and Robert filed a civil lawsuit challenging the inhumane and increasingly pervasive practice of long-term solitary confinement. Magistrate Judge Dalby describes their almost four decades of solitary as “durations so far beyond the pale” she could not find “anything even remotely comparable in the annals of American jurisprudence.” The case, expected to go to trial in 2011, will detail unconstitutionally cruel and unusual treatment and systematic due process violations at the hands of Louisiana officials.
We believe that only by openly examining the failures and inequities of the criminal justice system in America can we restore integrity to that system.
We must not wait.
We can make a difference.
As the A3 did years before, now is the time to challenge injustice and demand that the innocent and wrongfully incarcerated be freed.
Lethal Injustice: Standing Against the Death Penalty & Harsh Punishment
200 Wednesday, April 16 at 7:00 PM CCNY NAC Bldg. Room 1/201 nr. 137th St. on Convent Av.: #1 to 135 St.-City College (at Broadway, then walk a block east up the hill then around NAC bldg to night entrance) = = Date: Tue, 05 Apr 2011 10:48:20 -0400 From: Lee Wengraf
**NYC Upcoming Speaking Tour - post widely** LETHAL INJUSTICE: STANDING AGAINST THE DEATH PENALTY AND HARSH PUNISHMENT
A speaking tour to look at what's behind our massive prison build-up, why so many people of color are locked up and what we can do about it. This national speaking tour will be featuring panelists including, exonerated prisoners, family members, activists, lawyers and scholars.
From death rows to super-maxes, over 2.3 million mean and women sit behind bars today. "Lethal Injustice" speakers are organizing on the front-lines of the fight against criminal injustice, taking a stand against the racist, prison build-up and harsh sentencing.
**City College/CUNY
NAC Building Room 1/201
Wednesday, April 16 - 7 PM
Mark Clements - police torture victim; convicted of life without parole as a juvenile in Chicago
Bob Gangi past Executive Director, Correctional Association
Amir Varick - Rockefeller drug law survivor and activist
Leonard Peltier welcomes new attorney
4/3/2011
Dear Friends:
Robert R. Bryan of San Francisco has agreed to serve as my lead 201 attorney. I am honored that he has accepted my invitation. I ask all my supporters and friends to work with him in the struggle for my freedom and Native American Rights.
For decades Robert has specialized in human rights litigation and has successfully defended many peop0le in murder cases involving the death penalty. He also has a history of defending members of the American Indian Movement. Robert represented Jimmy Eagle who was cleared of murder charges in the case in which I was later wrongfully convicted. He also was the attorney for Gladys Bissonette, an Oglala Lakota/Sioux tribal elder who was a major force during the 1973 Wounded Knee occupation, etc. Gladys was the mother of Pedro Bissonette, an AIM leader who was murdered by the BIA police shortly after the occupation.
In the Spirit of Crazy Horse.
Doksha,
Leonard Peltier USP Lewisburg PO Box 1000 Lewisburg, PA 17837
Launched into cyberspace by the Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee PO Box 7488 Fargo, ND 58106 http://www.whoisleonardpeltier.info [email protected]
April Political Prisoner Poster Is Now Available
April 4, 2011 Anarchist News
Hello Friends and Comrades,
Here is the political prisoner birthday poster for April. We’ve been getting great feed back from people featured on the poster. Shaka Cinque (FKA Albert Woodfox) of the Angola 3 said in a recent letter that he received hundreds of well wishes for his birthday and that those letters have made him feel that much stronger.
We recently published “Black Anarchism,” by former Black Panther and Black Liberation Army fighter Ashanti Alston. This zine should be useful for any crews sending materials in to the inside, as well as folks interested in the topic generally. You can download it on our Resources page.
Eddie Conway (featured on this month’s poster) has a new book coming out called Marshall Law: The Life and Times of a Baltimore Black Panther. The book has an introduction by another prisoner featured in April, Mumia Abu-Jamal. Check it out.
As always, please post this poster publicly and/or use it to start a card writing night of your own.
Until Every Cage Is Empty, 202
The Chapel Hill Prison Books Collective
June 11th Day of Solidarity with Eric McDavid and Marie Mason and Long-Term Anarchist Prisoners
April 4, 2011 Anarchist News
June 11th began as an international day of solidarity with long-term anarchist prisoner Jeff "Free" Luers in 2004. At the time, Jeff was serving 22+ years. Infuriated by the environmental devastation he saw occurring on a global scale, Free torched three SUVs at a car dealership in Eugene, OR. The sentence imposed on him was meant to send a clear message to others who were angered by capitalism's continued war on the Earth's ecosystems – and to those who were willing to take action to put a stop to it. Free is, after all, not alone in his concerns about climate change, fossil fuels, pollution and genetically modified organisms.
After years of struggle, Jeff and his legal team won a reduction in his sentence and he was released from prison in December 2009. But in the years intervening Jeff's arrest and release, the FBI had carried out a series of indictments and arrests in an attempt to devastate the radical environmental and anarchist communities. Two of the people caught up in this maelstrom of repression were Eric McDavid and Marie Mason.
Eric McDavid was arrested in January 2006 after being entrapped by a paid government informant - "Anna" - and was charged with a single count of conspiracy. Eric – who never carried out any actions and was accused of what amounts to “thought crime” - refused to cooperate with the state and took his case to trial. After a trial fraught with errors, the jury convicted Eric. He was subsequently sentenced to almost 20 years in prison. More information on Eric's case can be found at www.supporteric.org
Marie Mason was arrested in March 2008 after her former partner - Frank Ambrose - turned informant for the FBI. Facing a life sentence if she went to trial, Marie accepted a plea bargain in September 2008, admitting her involvement in the burning of an office connected to GMO research and the destruction of a piece of logging equipment. At her sentencing in February the following year, she received a sentence of almost 22 years. More information on Marie's case can be found at www.supportmariemason.org
Marie and Eric now share the unfortunate distinction of having the longest standing sentences of any environmental prisoners in the United States.
Please join us in an International Day of Solidarity with Long-Term Anarchist Prisoners Marie Mason and Eric McDavid on June 11th. This is a time to remember our friends who are in prison – who are continuing their struggles on the inside. This is a time to continue and strengthen the very work for which Eric and Marie are now serving so much time - to struggle against capitalism, ecological devastation, and the ever more diffuse forms of control in this prison society.
Free Marie and Eric! Free all prisoners!
Please be in touch:
203 [email protected] june11th.org (more content soon)
Libyan woman who claimed rape gets death threats
April 4, 2011 Associated Press
NEW YORK – A Libyan woman who says she is the person who burst into a Tripoli hotel to tell foreign journalists that she had been gang raped by Moammar Gadhafi's troops told a CNN interviewer Monday that she is out of custody but is receiving death threats from regime loyalists.
CNN said it was confident that the woman interviewed is in fact Iman al-Obeidi, who made international headlines on March 26 when she was dragged away from the Rixos Hotel by government agents as she screamed her allegations of rape to foreign reporters.
The CNN interviewer, Anderson Cooper, said the network could not be certain the woman they spoke to by telephone is al-Obeidi, but they were satisfied it was her after days of research and from the testimony of several people who had talked with al-Obeidi at the hotel and with the women interviewed. She spoke in Arabic through a female translator, but was not shown on camera.
The story she told was also consistent with the account al-Obeidi gave at the hotel.
She said, "There is no safe place for me in Tripoli. All my phones are monitored, even this phone I am speaking on right now is monitored. And I am monitored."
"Yesterday I was kidnapped by a car and they beat me in the street, then brought me here after I was dragged around," she said.
"Yes, yes, I want to leave Tripoli. In the middle of the night I get nightmares, and I feel threats 24 hours a day. They are constantly threatening me, with death."
The woman interviewed by CNN said that after the initial hotel uproar, Gadhafi's militamen bought her new clean clothes and took her to the Libyan TV station to have her broadcast a recantation of her story, to say that the rebels had raped her, but she refused to do so.
"The TV station has no credibility and I was fearing the consequences," she told CNN. "Behind the camera, I was facing 15 Kalashnikovs."
On Sunday and Monday, al-Obeidi did telephone interviews with two TV networks, but she was not seen. A government official said she had an agreement not to talk to reporters, but she was blocked from getting to the reporters' hotel again on Sunday.
The last time al-Obeidi, who is from eastern Libya, which is now in rebel hands, was seen was when she was dragged away from the hotel on March 26. She had gone to the hotel after she said she had escaped her gang-rape ordeal.
She said that Gadhafi forces originally abducted her from a taxi at a checkpoint, repeatedly raped her and held her captive for two days. 204
"Of course they had my hands tied behind me, and they had my legs tied, and they would hit me when I was tied, and they would bite me, and they would pour alcohol in my eyes so I would not be able to see," she told CNN.
"One of them, when my hands were still tied, before he raped me he sodomized me with his Kalashnikov rifle," she said.
"They said, 'Let the men from eastern Libya come and see how we treat their women, and how we rape them, and abuse them.'"
She managed to escape after she was untied by another captive, a 16-year-old girl, she told CNN.
The woman who spoke to CNN claimed she was detained and beaten when she tried to reach reporters in the Rixos Hotel a second time on Sunday.
She told CNN that she earlier was stopped from leaving the country at the Tunisian border and returned to Tripoli. The Tunisian border is to the west of Tripoli.
On Sunday a Libyan dissident network based in Qatar played a phone interview where a woman claiming to be al-Obeidi said Libyan authorities had declined her request to join her parents in Tobruk. Tobruk, near the Egyptian border, is under rebel control.
Government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said al-Obeidi had made a deal with the attorney general not to speak to reporters so as not to compromise her case, and that he was aware that al-Obeidi was trying to reach media on Sunday.
"She broke her agreement with the attorney general by trying to speak to the media and was taken away," Ibrahim told The Associated Press.
Ibrahim said he didn't know what happened to al-Obeidi after she was taken away from the hotel.
Afaf Youssef, a woman the government said is al-Obeidi's lawyer, told The Associated Press on Monday that her client was refusing to speak to reporters because her case was under investigation.
Youssef said she was one of two lawyers taking up al-Obeidi's criminal case against the men who she says raped her. She also denied earlier government claims that al-Obeidi was a prostitute.
Al-Obeidi's rape claim could not be independently verified. The Associated Press identifies only rape victims who volunteer their names.
This Wednesday Call-in for Alvaro Luna Hernandez
THE COMMITTEE TO FREE ALVARO LUNA HERNANDEZ IS ASKING FOR THE PARTICIPATION OF ALL HIS COMRADES AND FRIENDS IN A:
PROTEST CALL-IN
205 Set for Wednesday, APRIL 6, 2011,
To the TDCJ in Huntsville, Texas,
Alfred D. Hughes Unit, in Gatesville, Texas, @ 2PM (CDT) – To object to the growing threats of censorship to his mail and 1st Amendment Rights, and retaliation by staff for observing his right to file a grievance.
(254) 865-6663
Ask for: Hughes Unit Senior Warden Edward Smith
1 (800) 535-0283
Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ)
Ask for TDCJ-CID Ombudsman
Program Coordinator Linda Shaw – Administrative Review & Risk management Division:
Direct line to Shaw: (936) 437-8035
Or (optional) TDCJ-CID Ombudsman Office Line:
(936) 437-6791
Retaliation, in that Mail-room Supervisor G. Vandiver, specifically, made a threat to Alvaro that his correspondents (we presume to be all) “be put on a negative mail list”.
Alvaro has had mail problems before, but this is an open threat made by the Supervisor and can't go unchallenged, that stemmed from certain pages being removed (confiscated) from a copy of the book “Defying The Tomb”, written by Virginia state prisoner and Minister of Defense for the New Afrikan Black Panther Party Prison Chapter (NABPP/PC) Kevin (Rashid) Johnson, sent him by Inside Out Books (the publisher) in Seattle, Washington; the pages Supervisor Vandiver and the mail-room objected to, claimed would breakdown the prison's operation - with prisoner disruptions - strikes - and rioting.
The fact that the [4] pages removed earlier (pages 112-113 – and 120-121), were re-sent individually to Alvaro without incident, and that Inside Out Books was never sent an official notice for denial of publication, would strongly support suspicions that the retaliatory nature of Vandiver's reaction to Alvaro's filed Grievance caused the threatening remark made about his mail in or out; because they must have realized their jobs were in jeopardy and that they were out of TDCJ & TBCJ policy compliance. This is not an idle threat, because prison (unit) administrations generally allow officers discretion to control prisoners this way, so it can never be credited for even happening IF an impression isn't made to Huntsville or on a Senior Warden by supporters & the public.
You’ll have to give Alvaro’s TDCJ-CID# 255735 when you call, and mention he’s in Administrative Segregation at the Alfred D. Hughes Unit in Gatesville, Texas.
Tell Huntsville that we demand the “disputed pages” that were torn 206 out, then re-sent separately by the publisher of the book in question “Defying The Tomb”, then being confiscated once again must be returned to him, and an explanation why there were two different decisions made by the mail room in regards to not allowing the pages, and then admitting them separately later.
John S. Dolley, Jr.,
Central Coordinator, Committee to Free Alvaro Luna Hernandez,
Central Texas ABC, P.O.Box 7187, Austin,Texas 78713 [email protected] www.freealvaronow.net
Black, Muslim, activist prisoners in experimental communications management units
April 4, 2011 SF BayView
Join the panel discussion on prison isolation Tuesday, April 5, 6:30 p.m., at The Women’s Building, Audre Lorde Room, 3543 18th St. #8, San Francisco by Nehal Zamani
The United States puts more people behind bars than any other country in the world. Racial profiling, the criminal justice system and mass detention of immigrants all contribute to an unjustifiable disparity when it comes to the number of people of color in prison and jail. Incarcerated people are often subjected to mistreatment, solitary confinement and other abuse, poor or limited access to medical and mental health treatment, blocked access to the justice system and other inhuman conditions of confinement.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) has found a new way to target political activists and people of color. The BOP established two communications management units (CMUs) in Terre Haute, Indiana, and Marion, Illinois, several years ago – experimental isolation units that have been used to isolate and segregate certain prisoners in the federal system from the rest of the prison population. The prisoners detained in the CMUs are overwhelmingly Muslim or are known for their unpopular political beliefs or challenges to mistreatment or other rights violations in the federal prison system.
Bias, political scapegoating, religious profiling and racism keep CMU inmates locked inside these special so-called “terrorist” units, away from public scrutiny, without any meaningful review. The people held in CMUs have limited visitation and are prohibited any physical contact with spouses, children and other loved ones. Access to education programs that would facilitate their reintegration and future employment upon release are restricted, furthering their isolation from their communities and from society at large.
Good old-fashioned racism and the so-called war on terror being waged at home and abroad cast a wide net over members of the Muslim community, Black and Latino people, and prison, environmental and animal rights activists. Much like the system that led to the wrongful imprisonment 207 of so many activists in the 1970s, CMUs are essentially used to hold political prisoners unconstitutionally and without due process.
In 2010, the Center for Constitutional Rights filed a federal lawsuit challenging the policies and conditions at the two CMUs, as well as the circumstances under which they were established. The Center for Constitutional Rights also works with local activists who are challenging isolation in prisons around the country.
On Tuesday, April 5, 2011, at 6:30 p.m., activists, advocates and concerned community members will gather at The Women’s Building, Audre Lorde Room, located at 3543 18th St. #8 in San Francisco, for an important panel on the use of isolation in U.S. federal and state prisons. Panelists will discuss the increased use of solitary confinement in the criminal justice system, the CMUs, and the ramifications of isolation on prisoners, their rehabilitation and their mental health. I hope to see you there.
Nahal Zamani is education and outreach associate with the Center for Constitutional Rights. He can be reached at (212) 614 6481 or [email protected].
Troops fire on Yemen protest; US seeks Saleh exit
By AHMED AL-HAJ, Associated Press April 4, 2011
SANAA, Yemen – Military forces and police snipers opened fire Monday on marchers calling for the ouster of Yemen's embattled president, killing at least 15 people and sending a strong message of defiance to U.S. and European envoys seeking to broker a peace deal after months of bloodshed.
The melee in the southern city of Taiz — part of an intensifying crackdown on the opposition — underscored the resolve of President Ali Abdullah Saleh to cling to power even as protest crowds resist withering attacks and crucial allies switch sides and call for his 32-year rule to end.
It also showed the challenges facing behind-the-scenes diplomatic efforts to quell the nearly two-month-old uprising in a nation that Washington considers a frontline battleground against al-Qaida's most active franchise.
"We will stand as firm as mountains," Saleh told a gathering of pro-government tribesmen.
In Taiz, witnesses described troops and gunmen, some on rooftops, firing wildly on thousands of protesters who marched past the governor's headquarters in the city's second straight day of violence. Some protesters — including elderly people — were trampled and injured as marchers tried to flee, witnesses said.
Saleh has been a key ally of the United States, which has given him millions in counterterrorism aid to fight al-Qaida's branch in the country, which has plotted attacks on American soil. So far, Washington has not publicly demanded that he step down. But the diplomatic efforts are a clear sign that the Americans have decided the danger of turmoil and instability outweighs the potential risks if Saleh leaves.
Mustafa al-Sabri, a spokesman for a coalition of opposition parties, said 208 U.S. and European diplomats had been in contact with Saleh. They also asked opposition leaders for their "vision" for a transition.
In response, the opposition over the weekend gave the Americans a proposal that Saleh step down and hand his powers to his vice president, who would then organize a process to rewrite the constitution and hold new elections, al-Sabri said.
The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, which includes Yemen's neighbors Oman and Saudi Arabia, also offered to try to mediate a peace deal.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said American envoys "continue to consult intensively" with Yemen's government and the opposition, but he refused to give details of any specific U.S. plans.
Saleh has offered no hint of compromise as long as protests rage.
"We are prepared to explore the peaceful transfer of authority in the framework of the constitution. But arm-twisting will absolutely not work," he said on Sunday.
On Monday, he showed an even harder edge. "We are standing firm, and we will defend constitutional legitimacy by all means," he told backers. "We will stand as firm as mountains and will remain faithful to the people."
Saleh has offered to step down early at the end of this year if a transfer of power acceptable to him is reached. But the opposition fears that Saleh is using the discussions over stepping down to stall for time — either to stay in power or to ensure he is succeeded by one of his sons.
The U.S. Embassy has not commented on any diplomatic efforts, saying only in a statement over the weekend that "Saleh has publicly expressed his willingness to engage in a peaceful transition of power; the timing and form of this transition should be identified through dialogue and negotiation."
The opposition has been holding continual protest camps in main squares of the capital, Sanaa, and other cities around the country, and hundreds of thousands turned out for the biggest and most widespread marches yet on Friday. At least 97 people have been killed since demonstrations began Feb. 11.
The violence in the mountain city of Taiz began when thousands of protesters marched down its main street toward Freedom Square, where demonstrators have been camped out, surrounded by security forces.
As the march passed the governor's headquarters, troops stationed there blocked the procession and clashes broke out with some protesters throwing stones, witnesses said.
Troops from the Republican Guard and the military police on nearby rooftops opened fire on the crowd and the marchers then turned to besiege the governor's headquarters, said Bushra al-Maqtara, an opposition activist in Taiz, and other witnesses.
"It was heavy gunfire from all directions. Some were firing from the rooftop of the governor's building," said one protester in the crowd, Omar al-Saqqaf.
209 At least 12 protesters were killed, said Hamoud Aqlan, a medical official at a clinic set up by protesters. Dozens more were wounded by gunshots, mainly to the head, neck and chest, he said. A medical official said another two demonstrators died of their wounds later.
The military has clamped down on the city of nearly half a million, about 120 miles (200 kilometers) south of the capital. For a second day, tanks and armored vehicles blocked entrances to the city to prevent outsiders from joining the protests. They also surrounded Freedom Square, bottling up the thousands in the protest camp there and arresting anyone who tries to exit.
Saleh's top security official in Taiz, Abdullah Qiran, is accused by demonstrators of orchestrating some of the most brutal crackdowns against demonstrators, particularly in the southern port town of Aden. On Sunday, police attacked a march by thousands of women in Taiz, sparking a battle with a separate group of male protesters.
Marches in solidarity with the Taiz protesters erupted in several cities, including in the capital Sanaa and the city of Hudayda, where snipers opened fire on demonstrators, killing one man, critically injuring another and wounding dozens of others, medics said.
Two former NOPD officers receive stiff sentences in Henry Glover case
March 31, 2011 Nola.com
Former police officer David Warren was sentenced to more than 25 years in prison this morning for the shooting of 31-year-old Henry Glover in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Eliot Kamenitz, The Times-PicayuneFormer New Orleans Police officer Greg McRae, accompanied by his wife, enters the U.S. Federal Courthouse Thursday morning for sentencing in his involvement in the cover-up of the death of Henry Glover. Glover was shot by officer David Warren in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina; McRae admitted burning a car containing Glover's body.
Former officer Greg McRae, who admitted burning a car parked on the Algiers levee that contained Glover's body, was sentenced to more than 17 years in prison.
210 McRae, who had been free on bond, was taken into custody immediately. Warren has been in prison since shortly after his indictment in June 2010.
Both sentences were imposed by U.S. District Judge Lance Africk, who delivered stern speeches to both men before rendering his judgment.
Warren was convicted in December of violating Glover's civil rights by shooting him, as well as using a gun in a crime of violence. A rookie police officer at the time of the storm, Warren had been guarding a police substation in Algiers on Sept. 2, 2005.
Warren shot Glover as he approached the substation, which was located on the second floor of a strip mall. Glover and a friend had gone to the mall to retrieve some items looted by friends.
Africk told Warren that his use of deadly force against Glover was unnecessary. He used the word "spurious" to describe Warren's claim that Glover charged at him in a menacing way.
"You killed a man ... Henry Glover was gunned down because you believed he was a looter," Africk said. He added that every day Warren has lived since September 2005 is one more day than Glover had.
Africk said Warren's conduct contrasted with that of most NOPD officers, who helped people and saved lives in the aftermath of the storm. Actions like Warren's, he said, erode confidence in law enforcement, making a harsh sentence necessary.
Africk noted that he had received many letters saying that as a result of Warren's conviction, officers will be more apt to question their right to protect themselves during chaotic events.
"I reject that argument." Africk said. "You were not forced to respond to Mr. Glover with deadly force," he told Warren.
David Warren
Before imposing Warren's sentence, Africk said that he had "given tremendous thought to this case. I can promise you, not everyone will agree with the sentence I impose," he added.
He said, however, that the sentence would be fair.
211 In letters sent to Africk, friends and family members asked the judge for leniency. "David is a man of God... a devout Christian," said one friend who spoke in open court.
"He is not an evil man. He is not a racist," the friend said.
Warren is white, while Glover is black. During the trial, prosecutors sought to show that race played a role in the event.
Members of the Glover family, visibly devastated, also took a turn at the podium. They asked Africk to issue the maximum sentence allowed by law.
"I forgive these men," said Edna Glover, the victim's mother, while holding a picture of her son. "If I don't, Jesus won't forgive me."
Africk ordered Warren to pay about $7,600 in restitution to the Glover family to cover his funeral costs.
After Glover was shot, he was picked up by William Tanner, a good Samaritan who drove him to a nearby police encampment for medical aid. Tanner and others said police there took them into custody instead of providing aid to the wounded Glover.
Later, officers drove away in Tanner's car, with Glover's body inside. McRae admitted during the trial that he parked the car on the levee and burned it.
It took nearly a year for Glover's remains to be identified, and it wasn't until after the publication of a series of news articles starting in December 2008 that the manner of Glover's death was known.
McRae's lawyer, Frank DeSalvo, argued that Africk should consider the circumstances of the storm as a mitigating factor when sentencing his client. He said McRae saved many lives during the hurricane.
Michael DeMocker / The Times-PicayuneEdna Glover carries a picture of her slain son Henry Glover as she and other family members leave federal court after sentences were handed down to two former NOPD officers in the slaying and burning of the body her son in the days after Hurricane Katrina.
212 DeSalvo also said McRae never knew that Glover had been shot by fellow officers. Burning the car at the time didn't seem so serious, DeSalvo said, adding that McRae now understands the implications of what he did and has taken responsibility for it.
McRae, clad in a tie and a blue blazer, addressed Africk directly, saying he realized the error of his ways.
"I acknowledge my mistake," he said. "I apologize directly to the Warren family ... excuse me, the Glover family." McRae added that he also apologized to the Warren family.
Later, he said, "I pray for the Glover family daily. I also pray for all the victims of Katrina."
But Africk told McRae that his actions contributed as much as those of Warren to the distress of the Glover family and their inability to get over Henry's death.
The judge called McRae's conduct "barbaric," saying it was "unforgivable" to burn Glover's body -- particularly for a 26-year police veteran. Africk ordered McRae to pay $6,000 in restitution to Tanner for burning his car.
Because of McRae, Africk said, the last photo the Glover family has of him is that "of a pile of bones," a description that provoked a gasp from the victim's family members sitting in the audience.
"At some point, you lost your compass," Africk said.
This story was reported by Laura Maggi and Brendan McCarthy.
Support the Eco-Prisoners (April 2011)
Spirit of Freedom (April 2011) Produced by EARTH LIBERATION PRISONERS SUPPORT NETWORK
"The whole experience has been tough, but all the kind and strengthening words and wise thoughts from strangers made it much easier!" (Former Swedish Animal Rights Prisoner)
Welcome to the April 2011 edition of Spirit of Freedom. As we go to print ELP is awaiting to hear the results of a trial in Austria where a number of hard working, dedicated, committed, animal rights campaigners have been accused of crimes they have not committed. During the trial it has emerged that the Austrian FRANK PLANK of Animal Spirit is a police informant who has testified against the defendants even though he had to admit he didn’t have any direct evidence to give!!! ELP is following the Austrian trial with interest and will bring you the trial results just as soon as we hear them ourselves.
Remember, prisoner support is international. Support all the eco-prisoners wherever they are in the world. And no compromise in defence of Mother Earth!
If anyone notices any of ELP's prisoner details is out of date or we do not list a prisoner who we should list, please let ELP know as soon as possible. ELP is run by a small group of volunteers and although we try to ensure our lists are 213 accurate, we admit we do make mistakes. So help us help keep the lists accurate by letting us know of any changes we need to make.
ECO-DEFENCE PRISONERS
Grant Barnes #137563, San Carlos Correctional Facility, PO Box 3, Pueblo, CO 81002, USA. Serving 12 years for setting fire to a number of SUV vehicles. The letters ELF were spray painted onto all of the vehicles. (Grant is a vegan).
Luca Bernasconi, c/o Regionalgefängnis Thun, Allmendstr. 34, 3600 Thun,, Switzerland. On remand accused of possession of explosive materials. Luca is Swiss and is a known animal rights and prisoner support activist. Although not linked to Il Silvestre himself, other defendants in this case are linked to Il Silvestre (Luca is a vegan)
Nathan Block, #36359-086, FCI Lompoc, Federal Correctional Institution, 3600 Guard Road, Lompoc, CA 93436, USA. Serving 7 years & 8 months for an ELF arson against a Poplar Tree Farm and an ELF arson against an SUV dealership. Also admitted his role in an ELF/ALF conspiracy. (Diet unknown).
Marco Camenisch, Justizvollzugsanstalt Lenzburg, Postfach 75, 5600 Lenzburg, Switzerland. Serving 18 years. 1) Ten years for using explosives to destroy electricity pylons leading from nuclear power stations. 2) Eight years for the murder of a Swiss Boarder Guard whilst on the run. In '02 Marco completed a 12- year sentence in Italy for destroying electricity pylons in Italy. (Marco is a meat eater who encourages organic living).
Scott DeMuth #11246-030, c/o Leavenworth Detention Center, 100 Highway Terrace, Leavenworth, KS 66048, USA. Serving six months for a raid on a fur farm. (Scott is a meat eater and an advocate of bow hunting).
Silvia Guerini, c/o Bundesanwaltochaft, Stawa Stadler, Tavbenstrasse 16, 3003 Berna - Switzerland. On remand accused of possession of explosive materials. Silvia is an Italian linked to Il Silvestre. (Silvia is a vegan)
Marie Jeanette Mason, 04672-061, FMC Carswell, P.O. Box 27137, Fort Worth, TX 76127, USA. Serving 21 years and 10 months for her involvement in an ELF arson against a University Professors Office as the Professor was linked to Genetically Modified crop testing. Marie also admitted destroying logging equipment. She also pleaded guilty to conspiring to carry out ELF actions and admitted involvement in 11 other ELF actions and 1 ALF action. (Marie is a vegan).
Abraham López Martínez (Jailed in Mexico). E-mail letters of support to [email protected] On remand accused of a series of ELF style activities against various trucks and businesses. (Abraham is a vegan)
Eric McDavid, 16209-097, FCI Victorville, Medium II, Federal Correctional Institution, PO Box 5300, Adelanto, CA 92301, USA. Serving 19 years & 7 months for planning to destroy the property of the U.S. Forestry Service, mobile phone masts and power plants. At the point of his arrest no criminal damage has actually occurred. (Eric is a vegan).
Daniel McGowan, #63794-053, FCI Terre Haute – CMU, Post Office Box 33, Terre Haute, Indiana 47408, USA. Serving 7 years for an ELF arson against a Poplar Tree Farm and an ELF arson against an old growth logging corporation. Also admitted his role in an ELF/ALF conspiracy. (Daniel is a vegetarian).
Steve Murphy, 39013-177, FCI Beaumont Medium, Federal Correctional Institution, P.O. Box 26040, Beaumont, TX 77720, USA. Serving 5 years for Conspiracy to Commit 214 Arson following an attempted arson at a town house construction site in 2006. The action was claimed under the banner of the ELF. (Steve is a vegan).
Costatino Ragusa, c/o Regionalgefängnis Bern, Genfergasse 22, 3001 Bern, Switzerland. On remand accused of possession of explosive materials. Costatino is an Italian linked to Il Silvestre. (Costatino is a vegan)
Justin Solondz (Jailed in China – See www.ecoprisoners.org for his address). American Green Scare defendant accused of direct action activity in America. Serving 3 years in China for drugs related offences then due to be deported back to America. His exact prison location is currently unknown. (Diet unknown).
Michael Sykes 696693, Michigan Reformatory, 1342 West Main Street, Ionia, MI 48846, USA. Serving four to ten years for anti-sprawl arsons, criminal damage to a utility pole, spray-painting political graffiti and burning the American flag. (Diet unknown)
Fermín Gómez Trejo (Jailed in Mexico). E-mail letters of support to [email protected] On remand accused of a series of ELF style activities against various trucks and businesses. (Fermin is a vegetarian)
Joyanna Zacher, #36360-086, FCI Dublin, 5700 8th St.- Camp Parks- Unit F, Dublin, CA 94568, USA. Serving 7 years & 8 months for an ELF arson against a Poplar Tree Farm and an ELF arson against an SUV dealership. Also admitted her role in an ELF/ALF conspiracy. (Diet unknown).
ANIMAL LIBERATION PRISONERS (All Animal Liberation Prisoners follow a minimum vegetarian diet and most are vegan).
Jonny Ablewhite A5750AH, H.M. Prison, Hewell Lane, Redditch, Worcs B97 6QS, England. Serving 12 years for attempting to blackmail a farmer who supplied guinea pigs for vivisection. (Jon is a vegan).
Diego Alonso (address unknown, jailed in Mexico– E-mail letters of support to [email protected]) On remand accussed of targeting banks, slaughterhouses and other institutions. (Diego is a vegan)
Gregg Avery A4874AD, HMP Coldingley, Shaftesbury Road, Bisley, Woking, Surrey GU24 9EX, England. Serving 9 years for conspiracy to blackmail Huntingdon Life Sciences. (Gregg is a vegan).
Natasha Avery A5180AD, HMP Send, Ripley Road, Woking, Surrey, GU23 7LJ, England. Serving 9 years for conspiracy to blackmail Huntingdon Life Sciences. (Nat is a vegan).
Walter Bond #P01051760, PO Box 16700, Golden, CO 80402-6700, USA. Serving 5 years for an ALF arson at a Sheepskin factory. He is also charged with arson attacks against a leather factory and a foie gras restaurant. (Walter is a vegan).
Mel Broughton, A3892AE, HMP Bullingdon, PO Box 50, Oxford, OX25 1WD, England. Serving ten years for his active campaigning against vivisection carried out by Oxford University. The police set him up and accused him of plotting an arson against the University. (Mel is a vegan).
Adrian Magdaleno Gonzales (address unkown, jailed in Mexico – E-mail letters of support to [email protected]). Serving 5 years 10 months for 215 detonating a gas bombs against various targets including banks and against targets whose actions were claimed by the Frente de Liberación Animal (ALF). (Adrian is a vegan).
Thomas Harris A8086AX, HMP Winchester, Romsey Road, Winchester, Hampshire, SO22 5DF, England. Serving five years for campaigning against Huntingdon Life Sciences (Tom is a vegan) Kevin Kjonaas #93502-011, FCI Sandstone, PO Box 1000, Sandstone, MN 55072 USA. Serving 72 months imprisonment for helping organise the SHAC-USA campaign. (Kevin is a vegan).
Marie Mason - See details in Eco Defence Prisoners List.
Daniel McGowan - See details in Eco Defence Prisoners List.
Gavin Medd-Hall A3624AD, HMP Coldingley, Shaftesbury Road, Bisley, Woking, Surrey GU24 9EX, England. Serving 8 years for conspiracy to blackmail Huntingdon Life Sciences. (Gavin is a vegan).
Heather Nicholson A3158AJ, HMP Foston Hall, Foston, Derby, Derbyshire, DE65 5DN, England. Serving 11 years for conspiracy to blackmail Huntingdon Life Sciences. (Heather is a vegan).
Dan Wadham, A5705AA, HMP Camp Hill, Newport, Isle of Wight, PO30 5PB, England. Serving 5 years for conspiracy to blackmail Huntingdon Life Sciences. (Dan is a vegan).
Kerry Whitburn TB4886, HMP Lowdham Grange, Lowdham, Nottingham, NG14 7DA, England. Serving 12 years for attempting to blackmail a farmer who supplied guinea pigs for vivisection. (Kerry is a vegan).
Sarah Whitehead, VM7684, HMP Bronzefield, Woodthorpe Road, Ashford, Middx, TW15 3JZ, England. Serving six years campaigning against Huntingdon Life Sciences. Was previously sentenced to two years for: 1) rescuing a puppy from horrific conditions. 2) rescuing over 100 animals from a pet breeder who was later prosecuted for animal abuse. (Sarah is a vegan)
PLOUGHSHARES PRISONERS
Helen Woodson, 03231-045, FMC Carswell - Admin. Max. Unit, POB 27137, Ft. Worth, TX 76127, USA. Serving 8 years 10 months for actions that focused on the interrelationship of war & the destruction of the natural world. The actions included pouring red paint over the security desk of a federal court and making threatening communications. Previously Helen had served 20½ years for: 1) Using a hammer to disarm a nuclear missile silo. 2) Burning $25,000 on the floor of a bank whilst denouncing war, environmental destruction & economic injustice. 3) Mailing warning letters with bullets attached to Government & corporate officials. (Diet unknown).
ANTIFA PRISONERS
Aleksey Bychin, FBU OIK-2 IK-7 otryad No. 12, ul. Karnallitovaya d. 98, g. Solikamsk Permskiy Kray, 618545 Russia. Serving 5 years for defending himself against neo-nazis. (Diet unknown).
Rinat Sultanov, FBU IZ-47\4, ul. Lebedeva d. 39, 195009 Saint-Petersburg Russia. On remand accused of fighting with neo-nazis. (Diet unknown).
OTHER PRISONERS 216
Ihar Alinevich, c/o P.O. Box 8, Glavpochtampt, 220050 Minsk, Belarus. Jailed for a variety of reasons including alleged anti-mititarism and alleged involvement in solidarity actions for two jailed Russian environmentalists. (Diet unknown) Mikalaj Dziadok, SIZO-1, ul. Volodarskogo 2, 220050 Minsk, Belarus. Jailed for a variety of reasons including alleged anti-mititarism and alleged involvement in solidarity actions for two jailed Russian environmentalists. (Diet unknown) Aliaksandar Frantskievich, Valadarskaha str., 2, SIZO-1, k. 46, Minsk, Belarus. Co-defendant of Ihar Alinevich and Mikalaj Dziadok. (Diet unknown) Fran Thompson, #1090915, CCC, 3151 Litton Drive, Chillicuthe, MO 64601, USA. Serving Life for killing, in self-defence, a stalker who had broken into her home. Before her imprisonment Fran was an eco, animal & anti-nuke campaigner. (Fran is a vegan).
JONATHAN POLLAK ,HERMON PRISON NSWING,PO BOX 4011, MAGHAR 14930, ISRAEL. Anarchist animal rights activist jailed for three months for cycling slowly during a Critical Mass protest against the bombing of Gaza. (Jonathan is a vegan).
MOVE MOVE is an eco-revolutionary group who carried out protests in defence of all life. All move prisoners describe themselves as vegetarians. There are currently eight MOVE activists in prison each serving 100 years after been framed for the murder of a cop in 1979. 9th defendant, Merle Africa, died in prison in 1998.
Debbie Simms Africa (006307), Janet Holloway Africa (006308) and Janine Philips Africa (006309) all at: SCI Cambridge Springs, 451 Fullerton Ave, Cambridge Springs, PA 16403-1238, USA.
Michael Davis Africa (AM4973) SCI Graterford, PO Box 244, Graterford, PA 19426- 0244, USA.
Edward Goodman Africa (AM4974), SCI Mahanoy, 301 Morea Rd, Frackville, PA 17932, USA.
William Philips Africa (AM4984) and Delbert Orr Africa (AM4985) both at SCI Dallas Drawer K, Dallas, PA 18612, USA.
Charles Simms Africa (AM4975), SCI Retreat, 660 State Route 11, Hunlock Creek, PA 18621, USA.
Mumia Abu Jamal, (AM8335), SCI Greene, 175 Progress Drive, Waynesburg PA 15370, USA. In 1981 Mumia, former Black Panther and vocal supporter of MOVE, was framed for the murder of a cop. He was originally sentenced to death but is currently awaiting re-sentencing following a court hearing in 2001.
STATEMENT ON VIOLENCE Some people listed in this newsletter have carried out violent actions including assault and murder. 'Spirit of Freedom' does not condone violence. But we are also against censorship & believe people can decide for themselves who they wish to support.
ABOUT E.L.P. SUPPORT NETWORK ELP is an international eco-prisoner support network founded, in Britain, in 1993 to support jailed eco-activists. We support the prisoners by producing various regular prisoner lists:
Spirit of Freedom is ELP's international monthly prisoner listing which is circulated by e-mail. 217
Urgent ELP! Bulletin is an e-mail service that distributes the names of any new eco-prisoner as soon as ELP gets their details. For more info e-mail [email protected]
On-Line Newsletters - ELP has a number of websites that provide news, prisoner lists and additional info about ELP & the prisoners.
English language ELP Website new site coming soon
Greek language ELP Website http://greekelp.blogspot.com
North American ELP Website www.ecoprisoners.org
Turkish language ELP Website www.geocities.com/yesilanarsi/elp.htm
ELP Extra is an e-mail group that circulates the details of political prisoners, ELP learns about, who do not fall within the remit for support by ELP. To subscribe to the list e-mail [email protected]
Australian ELP.SN is our Australian contact. For more info e-mail [email protected]
Belgium ELP.SN is our Belgium contact. For more info e-mail [email protected]
German ELP.SN is a prisoner led initiative run by eco-prisoner Marco Camenisch.
Greek ELP.SN is our Greek contact. For more info e-mail [email protected]
North American ELP is our North American contact. For more information e-mail [email protected]
Turkey ELP.SN is our Turkish contact. For more info e-mail [email protected]
Russian art group Voina Arrested and Beaten by the Police (Again!)
April 2, 2011 Infoshop News
Oleg Vorotnikov, Natalia “Kozlionok” Sokol, and Leonid Nikolaev were arrested during the peaceful demonstration against violations of article 31 of russian constitution (freedom of peaceful assembly) along with many other protesters. Oleg Vorotnikov and his 2-year old son Casper were taken to the police station #28. Two policewomen took Casper to a separate office, and Oleg hasn't seen him since. At the police station, Oleg was severely beaten. The art-group's lawyer, Dmitriy Dinze, has managed to set Oleg free, with the help of emergency ambulance brigade. After a short while he left the emergency hospital, where the doctors have officially examined the bruises after police battery.
Dmitriy Dinze is trying to set free other activists, who are held at the police station #78 (Chekhov st. 15) but so far with no results. The cops do not let nor the lawyer neither the ambulance brigade see them. As Dinze said to Oleg “Leonid and Kozlionok are beaten up there. The cops turned on some loud music and just beat them.” One of the protesters held in this 218 police station called Dinze and told him about the battery.
Dinze called the city police board and told them about the violations. Tho police superiors came to the police station, but after a short conversation with the policemen of #78 they just left. He tried for nearly 5 hours to get inside and to see the arrested, but the officer on duty bluntly refused to let him in.
Casper was taken to a children's hospital. There he's registered as an unidentified child. Dmitriy Dinze and Elena Kostileva have called the hospital to let the doctors know his name, date of birth, etc. But they demanded proof. Natalia Sokol, mother of the child, has all Casper's papers, but she's being held by the police and not allowed to see the lawyer. The biggest concern at the moment is that Casper will be taken to an orphanage. Oleg Vorotnikov is trying to get his son from the hospital, but without papers the doctors may as well refuse him.
Exonerated from death row by DNA: Sun. 6/12 NYC
"After Innocence," DVD, Color, 2005, 95 minutes, directed by Jessica Sanders. Sunday, June 12, 2011, 2 p.m. Mid-Manhattan Library (Map and directions) [40th & 5th] Fully accessible to wheelchairs
Story of the exonerated and innocent men wrongfully imprisoned for decades and then releasesd after DNA evidence proved their innocence. http://www.nypl.org/locations/tid/45/node/110810?lref=45%2Fcalendar = = After Innocence is a 2005 United States documentary film about men who were exonerated from death row by DNA evidence. Directed by Jessica Sanders, the film took the Special Jury Prize at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival.
The featured exonerees are Dennis Maher; Calvin Willis; Scott Hornoff; Wilton Dedge; Vincent Moto; Nick Yarris; and Herman Atkins. Also featured are Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld of the Innocence Project and Lola Vollen of the Life After Exoneration Program. http://www.afterinnocence.net/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16IvWDDe8fQ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/after_innocence
Pelican Bay SHU
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Dear Friends,
At the request of a prisoner who has been confined for many years in the Security Housing Unit at California's Pelican Bay State Prison, I am attaching a document projecting a hunger strike to begin on or about July 1, 2011.
According to the Complaint, these men are in solitary confinement under harsh conditions due to their "status." They have been labeled gang affiliated, even though they have not been charged or found guilty of a gang related act, based on allegations by confidential inmate informants seeking and receiving special treatment.
In order to be released from the Security Housing Unit they must "debrief." That means providing staff with information implicating others as gang members or associates, adversely impacting the gang to the point where they will never be accepted back. This can cause harm to other prisoners, and make the prisoner who debriefs (or a member of his family) a target for reprisal.
Some of these men are jailhouse lawyers who challenge correctional policies and practices and encourage others to do so.
In a covering letter, I was asked to pass this information on to anyone with possible interest. If you
220 have a newsletter or website, these prisoners would appreciate your posting the attached document. Thank you for whatever you do to alleviate their situation.
Jimmy Carter urges release of Cuban Five
March 31, 2011 machetera|
Interview with former U.S. President, Jimmy Carter, by Arleen Rodríguez Derivet, Cuban Television journalist - español
Translation: Machetera
Arleen Rodríguez: Hello! A greeting to all of those who are watching Cuban Television right now. I welcome all of you, along with the former President of the United States, James Carter, who just moments before leaving to return to his country has graciously agreed to give us an interview, and an exclusive statement for our television broadcast.
Welcome. Thank you for accepting our invitation.
Jimmy Carter: It’s a great pleasure to return to Cuba, to Havana.
Rodríguez: It’s a great pleasure to have you here as well. You told me that you’d like to say something to the Cuban people before our interview.
Carter: Yes.
Rodríguez: The camera is yours.
Carter: To the people of Cuba I would like to say that I am very grateful for the chance to return to your wonderful country once again. My wife and I enjoy being here with the Cuban people, to meet with the government leaders, to meet with some of those Cuban citizens who disagree with the government. We met with all of them. We are very excited about the prospects for the upcoming Congress that will begin next month. We also had a chance to meet with the parents of the so-called Cuban Five, with two of the mothers and also with the wives.
My hope is that in the future we will see normalization of relations between Cuba and the United States. I would like to see at the time all the restraints on travel from the United States to Cuba and Cuba to the United States lifted, and also have freedoms in both our countries, freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, freedom to travel as you wish, these are very important for the entire world and for the people of Cuba.
We had meetings with the foreign minister, with the President of the National Assembly, with President Castro, with the former President, Fidel Castro, an old friend of mine, to learn all we can about the economic changes in Cuba.
This morning I was also able to meet with Mr. Gross, who has been sentenced to a long term in prison in Cuba, and we believe he is innocent of any crime. I hope in the future we’ll see his freedom along 221 with the freedom of the so-called Cuban Five who have now spent 12 years in prison in the United States.
In the future I hope that we can see unimpeded trade and commerce as well as travel back and forth between our two countries and I’d like to see the economic embargo lifted completely…it doesn’t just affect the government but it hurts the people. My views on the Cuban American relationship are that it needs to change.
When I became president I immediately lifted the travel restraints between both my country and Cuba and I have worked very closely with your former President Fidel Castro to establish diplomatic exchange through Interests Sections. Now the United States and Cuba have about 300 people employed in the Interests Sections, both in the United States as well as in Cuba, and there are Cubans who work in the Interests Section in Cuba and vice-versa, and I think that this can contribute to normal diplomatic relations between the two countries.
This has been a good opportunity that I’ve been given by Cuban TV to address you and say how marvelous your country is.
Rodríguez: Thanks.
I’d like to take advantage of this opportunity to ask you a few questions.
First of all, I’d like to congratulate you for the respect and sympathy that you’ve generated as the only U.S. President in 50 years to do something to normalize relations. You recalled some of the important steps. Also for the fact that you have come to Cuba twice already, and for doing so with your hand extended and with respect. The Cuban people, who have a lot of pride and dignity, receive such visitors sympathetically.
I believe that, getting down to the substance of this interview, you’ve relieved me of having to do an introduction, by expressing once again your desire and willingness for the blockade against Cuba to be lifted. It’s known that there’s a majority consensus in U.S. society on this, even among the Cuban community in the United States, and that, furthermore, the international community has overwhelmingly demanded this for the last twenty years, the same way that its efforts are supported by a vast majority in Cuba and the United States.
As you yourself acknowledge, the blockade remains in place, and the Cuban people know, furthermore, that it remains in place as stiffly as ever, sometimes even more rigorous than before.
I ask: What prospects do you see for relations between Cuba and the United States and for this blockade, that the whole world opposes?
Carter: As you know, the majority of Cubans want to have normal relations with the United States, and the overwhelming majority of North Americans also want to have normal relationships with Cuba. Unfortunately there are a few radical leaders in my country, some in prominent positions in Congress, mostly Cuban Americans, who insist on keeping the relationship between our two countries separate, these representatives of the old Cuban American community, whose main goal was to overthrow the Castro regime; even among the Cuban Americans now in my country they are a small minority now, but they’re very powerful, in our political circles. I believe that in the last few years, I’ve seen public 222 opinion polls even inside Miami … testifying that the younger members of that community want to move the economic blockade against Cuba and want to have normal opportunities to travel in both directions: from the United States to Cuba and also from Cuba to the United States. This is a change. In my opinion, it’s a change that is going to continue into the future and I hope that my small voice, and the opinion of many American, can make this a reality.
Rodríguez: Mr. Carter, I was very moved as I listened to you in the press conference, and here in your statement, when I heard you also ask for, demand, freedom for the Five Cuban Heroes imprisoned in the States, who Cuba considers heroes, because they faced terrorist groups and were able to prevent the list of 2,099 wounded and 3,478 dead from terrorist attacks on our country from growing any larger.
I don’t know how aware you are of how deeply the Cuban people feel about the demand that the Five be released. However, I didn’t hear you say they should be pardoned.
You said that according to U.S. law you expected that they would be freed. They have appealed to the Supreme Court, which refused to hear their case, despite the fact that more than 10 Nobel laureates and hundreds of political personalities and intellectuals around the world had demanded it. In other words, all the legal steps have been exhausted.
The process has been extremely arbitrary, as you said, judges have acknowledged this, and two of them have been subjected to the additional punishment of being denied regular visits from their wives, as well as having the visits from their family members made very difficult.
To arrive at this point with the Supreme Court and not allow even for the review of such a complex case is what made these Nobel prizewinners and political personalities demand that Obama grant a pardon.
You were the President of the United States. You exercised the right to pardon, as a humanitarian gesture, that I tell you – as a Cuban – the Cuban people would deeply appreciate a pardon. Are you inclined to add your name to the other Nobel prizewinners who are asking Obama to pardon the Five?
Carter: As you know, I’m not only a former president, but I’m also a Nobel laureate.
Rodríguez: That’s why.
Carter: Well, in my private talks to President Bush and also with President Obama, I have urged the release of these prisoners.
I recognize the restraints within the American judicial system, and my hope is that the president might grant a pardon, but you have to realize that this is a decision that could only be made by the president himself, it would be presumptuous of me to try to tell another president what to do; but the presidents, now and before this, have known that my own opinion is that the original trial of the Cuban Five was very doubtful, it violated standards, and also some of the restraints on their visitation were extreme.
Now I know that all of the people have been able to visit them in jail, and it is my wish in the future that before a pardon might be granted is that there could be more access by these families to these prisoners . 223 I have been informed by officials, for instance, that the shooting down of the small planes over Havana, that caused the death of two pilots, was done after the President of the United States informed Cuban leaders that no more flights would take place. And I was informed by Cuban officials that they notified the President of the United States, very clearly, that they could not permit a plane to fly over their capital city…dropping leaflets…but that they would protect the sovereignty of Cuba. So even those more serious, allegations, in my opinion are very doubtful, about their need or cause of the extensive sentences that have been granted to one of the prisoners; but in every way, in my private report with Obama when I return to the United States, in my public statements like today, in my previous conversations with American leaders, I’ve called for the release of the Cuban Five. One of the reasons is that, guilty or not, is they’ve served a long prison sentence already, more than 12 years, and the fact that they’ve been punished adequately, even if they are guilty.
Rodríguez: Recently a person very closely connected to the case, who you knew very well, Leonard Weinglass, passed away. I know that you know he was a man with a love for justice, who fought for justice, and his last words, his last work, even, on his deathbed, was to prove that the Five had nothing to do with the downing of the planes.
Carter: Yes, I know.
Rodríguez: To go further into the case would make this conversation much longer, but what the Cuban people know, what can be proven, what is known, even by U.S. authorities, through the reports that Cuba sent, is that the only thing these young people were doing was looking for information to prevent terrorist actions.
I am confident that you will be able to convey the insistence on a pardon, as a humanitarian gesture. These men have suffered a lot, and have lost family members without being able to be at their side; finally, I don’t insist, I thank you for your interest and your statements in the name of the Cuban people.
Mr. Carter, you also said this morning at the press conference that you had a friendly meeting with Comandante Fidel Castro, who has expressed in his Reflections a great deal of anguish about the risks faced by the human species, about the huge nuclear arsenals that keep on growing and that are capable of destroying the world several times over, and also about the nefarious consequences that climate change might have for the human species. These are subjects in which I believe you have broad agreement.
As a nuclear physicist, you know what nuclear weapons mean for the human species, when you were President, you worked hard to educate your people against consumer culture, promoted rational policies, defended the environment, even though it made you unpopular among certain sectors.
Well, quickly, I’d like to know if you still think there is a chance to do something to save humankind.
Carter: Well, when I was president, we negotiated with the Soviet Union to reduce the level of nuclear weapons, through the so-called SALT II Treaty, and since then I’ve been a strong advocate of reducing productions in nuclear arsenals on both sides. Also I believe very strongly that there is a real threat to the wellbeing of all human beings through global warming, and as you probably know, President Obama and his predecessor, President Bush, attempted to work with other nuclear powers on
224 reducing arsenals, and that they have been monitoring very closely the agreements that have been signed by these governments.
I think the United States has not been adequately strong in its potential leadership in addressing the global warming issue. Cuban officials, since I’ve been here, have pointed out me that the old city in Havana is in danger of destruction… I have been to Bolivia to meet with Evo Morales, and maybe Bolivia will be the first country that will have major damage to its economy, because the glaciers in the mountains of Bolivia are melting…their source of drinking water. So I’m hoping that in the future, this issue, and the global warming issue, can be addressed by my country and all nations, and I know that Fidel Castro is addressing this now, at least in his Reflections. I talked to him about inviting … more definitively about his actions at present, as related to the United States … what goes on in current affairs, and he wants to use his voice as a senior statesman for the wellbeing of all humankind. We’ve had good conversations, we basically agree on many things, and above all, we also talked about global warming, and I believe that there might be a possibility between our two countries. Now I’m afraid I have to leave, to get on my airplane, I don’t have an Air Force One any more.
Rodríguez: I’m very grateful for your time. Thank you. Every time you come to Cuba, hope is awakened, although the blockade continues to make relations so difficult.
Carter: Espero que podemos volver otra vez, muchas veces. En la oportunidad traer toda mi familia. Hay muchos de nuestra familia. Tenemos treinta y seis miembros… [I hope that we can return again, many times. I'd like to bring all my family. There are a lot of us. We have thirty-six members...] grandchildren, great grandchildren, spouses, children, we’d like to have all of us come to Cuba.
Thank you very much.
Rodríguez: Thank you, Mr. Carter, very much.
Machetera is a member of Tlaxcala, the international network of translators for linguistic diversity: http://www.tlaxcala-int.org
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