VOl XI!lS2~

VOLUME XIII

PUBLISHER/EDITOR IN CHIEF Merle Hoffman

MANAGING EDITOR Beverly Lowy

ASSOCIATE EDITORS Eleanor J. Bader Phyllis Chesler

...... ASSISTANT EDITOR ~ Karen Aisenberg - CONTRIBUTING EDITORS - Irene Davall ....- Roberta Kalechofsky .... Flo Kennedy ----' - Nancy Lloyd ART DIRECTORS Michael Dowdy Julia Gran

ADVERTISING AND SALES DIRECTOR Carolyn Handel

ON THE ISSUES: A feminist, humanist publication dedicated to promoting political action through awareness and One of the "Hysterical Housewives", education; working toward a global FEATURES . Louise Geddings, blocks a truck from political consciousness·; fostering a spirit SEXUAL MALPRACTICE: entering a landfill in Sumter County, SC, of collective responsibility for positive social change; eradicating racism, Therapists Who Seduce Their an area known for hazardous wastes. sexism, ageism, speciesism; and support­ Patients ing the struggle of historically disenfran­ by Fred Pelka HYSTERICAL HOUSEWIVES chised groups powerless to protect and Data indicate that six to 10 percent of (AND OTHER COURAGEOUS defend themselves. therapists sexually abuse their pa­ WOMEN) tients. Experts consider this a conser­ by Karen Jan Stults UNSOLICITED MANUSCRIPTS All unsolicited material will be read by the editors. For vative estimate 7 Grassroots organizers are fighting return, enclose self-addressed, stamped envelope with against toxic wastes in their commu­ proper postage. Articles should be not less than 10 and STRANGER IN A nities ... and they're winning the not more than 15 double spaced, typewritten pages on women's health, social or political issues by people with STRANGE LAND: battle 22 hands on experience in their fi elds. Professional papers Attending a Right To Life are accepted. All editing decisions are at the discretion of the editors. Feminist cartoons are also acceptable Conference SPECIAL FEATURE under the same provisions. by Eleanor J. Bader ON THE ISSUES does not accept fiction or poetry. A pro-choice editor / reporter goes be­ "NEVER A MAN MINISTER" Advertising is accepted at the discretion of the hind enemy lines to get the story 10 by Willie Mae Kneupper publi sher. Acceptance does not necessarily imply A quiz that really tests your endorsement. SUSAN ROSENBERG: feminist I.Q . 24 PUBLISHER'S NOTE: Tbe opinions expressed by America's Most Dangerous contributors to our publication and by those we DEPARTMENTS interview are not necessarily those of the editors. Woman? ON THE ISSUES is traditionally a forum for ideas An exclusive interview by Merle Merle Hoffman- Editorial 1 and concepts and a place where women may have Hoffman; profile by Patricia Golan their voices heard without fear of censure or cen­ Win Some-Lose Some 4 sorship. At 34, Susan Rosenberg faces the pos­ Choice Books 25 sibility of spending the rest of her life ON THE ISSUES is published as an informational FilmNideo 29 and educational service of CHOICES Women's prison. Her crime: dissent against Medical Center, Inc. 97-77 Queens Boulevard "u.'rn.rn,~ rl.l. policies 14 Feedback 35 Forest Hills, NY 11374·3317 ISSN 0895·6014

PHOTO: COURTESY CITIZENS CLEARINGHOUSE 14 ON THE ISSUES VOL XIII 1989 (( ... it was the prison that had proved the best school. A more painful, but a more vital, school. Here I had been brought close to the depths and complexities of the hu- man soul; here I had found ugliness and beauty, mean­ ness and generosity. The prison had been the crucible that tested my faith. It had helped me to discover strength in my own being, the strength to stand alone, the strength to live my life and fight for my ideals, against the whole world if need be." Emma Goldman - Living My Life, Volume 1 1931

Interview by Merle Hoffman Profile by Patricia Golan

he signs her letter, "Vencere­ "Your background paralleled mine to mos, Susan Rosenberg". The old some degree and but for fate, fortune or slogan of the Cuban revolution choice I could be where you sit now." - We shall overcome - seems Free-lance writer Patricia Golan was ironically symbolic ofthe plight living in Tucson, AZ when she first of a woman whose political be­ heard of Susan Rosenberg. Rosenberg Sliefs have led her into direct confronta­ had been sent to a Federal lock-up in tion with the United States govern­ Tucson when she was first imprisoned. ment, and to the prospect of virtual "I had never before considered the life imprisonment. possibility that there could be Manacled and On the far left of the political spec­ 'political prisoners' in the United shackled, Susan trum and a self-proclaimed revolu­ States," said Golan. Rosenberg sits tionary, 34-year-old (Oct. '89) Susan "For all my adult life I have held a behind a plexiglass Lisa Rosenberg's path of dissent certain set of political beliefs, and have wall in a Washing­ against government policies has pro­ lived my life accordingly. What, I won­ ton, DC courtroom, voked an extraordinary reaction on dered, would happen ifmy politics were April, 1988. the part of judicial and law enforce­ so fundamentally opposed to the gov­ Rosenberg is ment authorities. ernment in power that I would feel considered by law "Why interview me rather than the forced to break the law? How would I enforcement others involved in the case?" Susan behave in a situation similar to that of authorities to be "a Rosenberg asked On the Issues pub­ Susan Rosenberg's? Would I refuse grave danger to the lisher Merle Hoffman when she vi s­ to renounce my politics, or become a security of the ited her last May in the Washington, psychological cipher by giving up the United States". DC jail. "Because," HofIman answered, 'me' that has invested so many

ON THE ISSUES VOL XIII 1989 PHOTO: COURTESY DAEDALUS PRODUCTIONS 15 Bella and Emmanuel Rosenberg sh are thoughts of their only child in happier days. Photo on left: 12- year- old Susan at an anti-Vietnam war demonstration in Central Park, New York City, 1969.

and explosives, 34-year-old Rosenberg was under indictment again. Along with five other radical activists (Alan Berk­ man, Tim Blunk, Marilyn Buck, Linda Evans, Laura Whitehorn) who had long histories of political involvement and most of whom also were serving lengthy sentences for politically motivated of­ fenses - Rosenberg was indicted for complicity in a series of bombings in 1983 in and around Washington, fol­ lowing the U. S. invasion of Grenada. The seven were charged, among other things, with "engaging in a conspiracy to resist foreign and domestic policies of the United States government". The defendants' attorneys and supporters years in an ideal? "It was this aspect led her to her present plight, there is maintain the indictments are politi­ of Susan Rosenberg's story that something about her quiet, unwaver­ cally motivated. made me want to meet her and to find ing presence that inspires respect. The government has been extremely out more about her." In April, 1988, Susan Rosenberg, con­ vindictive in this ["Capitol Bombing"] Despite her many months of harsh sidered by law enforcement authorities case because of the leftist, communist incarceration, which included a 20- to be a grave danger to the security of politics of the defendants," comments month ordeal in a women's "control the United States, sat manacled and Ronald Kuby, a cooperating attorney unit" in Lexington, KY, Susan Rosen­ shackled behind a plexiglass wall in a with the Center for Constitutional berg remains articulate and self-as­ Washington, DC courtroom. Rights. sured. Whatever one's political stand Already serving an unprecedented 58- Why, asks Kuby, should abortion or attitude towards the movement that year sentence for the possession of arms clinic bombers be allowed to plead to

16 PHOTO: COURTE SY DAEDALUS PRODUCTIONS ON THE ISSUES VOL XIII 1989 lesser offenses? "It's clear," he says, child, fighting each legal battle as it out this period she was deeply involved "these kinds of indictments are exclu­ comes up. They also help in the legal in radical politics, working with the sively reserved for political radicals." battles of others. New Afrikan and Puerto Rican inde­ Last spring, the charges against "It is a matter ofprinciple," says Bella pendence movements and the May 19 Rosenberg and two other defendants Rosenberg simply. Communist Organization, an offshoot were dismissed by a U.S. District Court Matters ofprinciple were a part ofthe group of the earlier Weather Under­ judge on the basis of double jeopardy. Rosenberg household when Susan was ground. (May 19 was the birthday of As ofJuly 5,1989, the U.S. prosecuting growing up on New York's Upper West both Ho Chi Minh and Malcolm X). attorney has appealed the ruling, but Side. Emmanuel Rosenberg has mo­ Rosenberg was working in a radical whatever the outcome, the publicity ments when he blames himselffor the health center in Harlem using acu­ surrounding the case has revealed a path his daughter took. "We were al­ puncture to treat drug addicts, when side of the American system of justice ways liberal, always into causes, tak­ Brinks happened. of which few citizens are aware. ing part in Civil Rights demonstra- In October, 1981 a Brinks' armored Rosenberg has already served four truck was held up in Nyack, NY, alleg­ years of her 58-year sentence. Most of edly by members of groups known as it has been in isolation. For 20 months the Black Liberation Army and the she was held in a special "high secu­ Her strength and Revolutionary Armed Task Force. rity" facility for women at the Federal There was a shootout. A Brinks' guard Correctional Institution in Lexington, and two policemen were killed. KY. Described by Amnesty Interna­ honesty and will­ Brinks would prove a turning point tional as "deliberately and gratuitously in the U.S. government's efforts to oppressive," and by the ACLU as "a eliminate what was seen as a danger­ living tomb", the unit-ordered closed ingness to "put her ous threat. Through a concerted effort down by a Federal district judge - had by law enforcement agencies, anyone been specifically designed as a control who had ever associated with the unit for women convicted of politically money where her groups involved in the heist was motivated crimes. Unfortunately, in rounded up or issued grand jury mid September the U.S. Court of Ap­ subpoenas. This included a long list of peals overturned that lower court deci­ mouth is" is a radical groups, including May 19. sion. At the present time, the federal Susan Rosenberg was on the list. government has been given a green challenge to us all There were those who went to jail light to create "control units" for fe­ rather than c(,)operate with the grand male political prisoners like Rosen­ jury investigation; although she has berg. (see box "Lexington") always denied any part in the heist, Her photo appears among a series of tions and anti-war marches," he re­ Rosenberg went underground. "I did headshots under the banner calls. "Susan asked to go with me even not believe I or anyone else could get a WANTED!. She is a smiling, pretty though she was only 11 or 12 at the fair trial given the incredible hysteria young woman with curly hair, mag­ time. I never pressured her." generated by the FBI around the case," netic green eyes and gold hoop ear­ Susan attended Walden, a progres­ she says. "I also knew that because of rings. "These fugitives are dangerous sive private school. A gifted child with my long history of support for Black and may be armed," reads the caption a talent for singing and acting, the liberation I was a target ofthe investi­ in the lurid 1984 Reader's Digest ar­ young Susan Rosenberg was an accom­ gation, and I believed that going un­ ticle "Terror Network, U.S.A.", which plished athlete and straight-A student. derground would enable me and oth­ describes what the magazine terms A political prodigy, politics were her ers to continue our work in opposition "self-styled revolutionaries engaged passion from an early age. At 11 she to the U.S. government." in a war on American society". wrote a paper on the effects of McCar­ (The indictment linking Rosenberg How does a "nice," middle-class, J ew­ thyism; at 17 she went to Cuba with an to Brinks was eventually dropped. But ish girl end up with her mug shot on American youth work brigade. references to the original indictment the FBI's most wanted list? Rosenberg She was accepted to prestigious Bar­ persistently appear in subsequent was the intellectually privileged daugh­ nard College after 11th grade. Then, documents and reports. Thus, while ter ofliberal activist parents who grew finding Barnard too isolated and pro­ the indictment implicating Rosenberg up in comfortable surroundings. How tected, she transferred to City College in the Brinks' case has long been did it happen? where she earned a degree in history. dropped, she may be forever stigma­ "It's hard to answer," Rosenberg re­ Lisa Roth, a political activist living in tized by it.) plied. "I think it's a combination of San Francisco, has known Rosenberg Since litigation in her case is ongo­ time, place and conditions." since Susan was 17 and remembers her ing, Rosenberg's life as a fugitive for Indeed, it's a long way from the Wash­ having a maturity beyond her years. "I two years cannot now be known. What ington, DC jail to Candlewood Lake, a was always surprised at her age," says is clear is that, having previously serene, haven near Danbury, CT, where Roth. "She had a very clear political worked with various national libera­ Dr. Emmanuel and Bella Rosenberg vision for someone so young." tion, "anti-imperialist" groups active have had their summer home for 20 "Susan was always very fierce and in the U.S., she was drawn further into years. A semi-retired dentist, the 71- tenacious, but she also loved to laugh clandestine political activities. year-old Emmanuel Rosenberg keeps and have a good time," says Roth. In November 1984, she and Timothy up his practice two days a week at his After college, Rosenberg became a Blunk were caught by police and the clinic in Spanish Harlem. Bella Rosen­ drug counselor at Lincoln Hospital in FBI in Cherry Hill, NJ, in possession of berg was a theatrical producer. Today, the Bronx, then studied for three years several weapons and a carload of ex­ most of their energies are taken up to become a doctor of Chinese acupunc­ plosives and carrying false identifica­ with rallying support for their only ture and holistic medicine. Through- tion. At the subsequent trial, the two

ON THE ISSUES VOL XIII 1989 17 unit for past political associations they will never shed unless forced to renounce them is a dangerous mission for this country's prison system to continue," Judge Parker said in his ruling. The unit was unlike any other in the prison system. Kept in isolation in small, starkly lit cells, the women were moni­ tored constantly by 11 surveillance cameras operated by male guards who watched even while they took showers. They were subjected to random full­ body cavity strip searches, kept awake for long periods and denied medical treatment. All the women suffered extreme physical and psychological deterioration. A video segment "American Gulag?" Women's HSU at Lexington was cited by the Soviet Union as an example of human on the Lexington unit from independent rights violations by the U.S. film maker Nina Rosenblum was shown on NBC's "Today" show. Originally com­ WOMEN'S HIGH SECURITY Torres, a Puerto Rican nationalist were missioned by ABC's 20/20, that network, UNIT(HSU) AT LEXINGTON the first inmates of the special unit. The apparently under pressure, decided We arrived here (in Lexington) last two were joined by Silvia Baraldini who against showing the segment. night at five in the evening ... caravaned had also been convicted of politically Sociologist Gilda Zwerman, an associ­ with four cars and a van. motivated criminal offenses, and later ate professor at The State University of We drive right up to the entrance of three other women. (As of this writing, New York at Old Westbury in Long this unit. The entire prison was locked Silvia Baraldini is awaiting transfer to Island, has done extensive research on in, and there were hundreds of prison­ her native home to serve in an Italian women in the American prison system. ers' faces at the windows watching this prison according to the Strassburg She maintains that the HSU at Lexington entrance. There must have been 25 Convention.) reflected "the emergence of a new police of one type or another. One In his order to shut down what was, at strategy in correctional philosophy." woman screamed out " Hello Susan, we first, a secret underground unit, Judge The HSU, Zwerman writes in Social know it's you." I started jumping up and Barrington Parker said the treatment of Justice, " utilizes and manipulates the down, and screamed " Don't let them the women " skirted elemental standards 'terrorist' label. ..in order to justify the bury us down there." Someone else of decency". 'special' treatment of political prison­ screamed, "We won't. " They hurried us Widely publicized before being or­ ers," and represents " an expansion in inside. Inside three doors and into the dered shut down, the Lexington unit the use of incapacitation, surveillance unit's own R&D (receiving and was the first prison specifically de­ and deterrence as mechanisms for discharge). Such a big deal for the two signed with politically motivated of­ social control and repression to a of us; it was frightening and ridiculous fenses in mind. At last year's summit in degree heretofore unprecedented in the at the same time. Moscow, the Lexington unit was cited U.S. correctional system." Susan Rosenberg, writing to sociolo­ by the Soviet Union as an example of The Bureau of Prisons has appealed gist Gilda Zwerman, quoted in Social human rights violations by the United the ruling, citing internal security needs Justice, July 1988. States. for keeping it operational. Susan Rosenberg and Alejandrina "Consigning anyone to a high-security -Patricia Golan ------were each sentenced to terms of 58 vicious political move. We suggested at Nina Rosenblum, an independent film years, with a recommendation of no our sentencing that our 58 years could maker now completing a film on United parole. read "The God that failed" ... States prison abuses, has followed According to Arizona State Univer­ At their trial, Rosenberg and Blunk, Rosenberg's case and interviewed sity associate law professor Jane Aiken, acting as their own attorneys, tried to people who were present at the trial. who has followed Rosenberg's case introduce a political defense. Describ­ She believes the handling of Rosen­ since she was first held at a fe deral ing themselves as "resistance fighters" berg's case in court damned her. lockup in Tucson, the severity of the in a "revolutionary struggle against "Their friends were coming into court sentence, on a first offense conviction in U.S. imperialism," they cited Nuren­ wearing Arab head garb and raising which no one had been hurt, was un­ berg, Universal Declaration of Human clenched fists," said Rosenblum. "Blunk precedented - 16 times longer than Rights and international law which put his feet on the table, to show they the average sentence meted out to gives citizens the right to resist the war had been shackled and that he did not weapons-possession offenders, and crimes oftheir own nation. Among other recognize the court's authority. twice the average for fi rst-degree mur­ things, their brief outlined U.S. crimes "It became so theatrical, the worst derers in the Federal Courts. against Central America, the Contra that could happen did." Clearly, maintains Aiken, the judge war, crimes of colonialism and geno­ Professor Aiken agrees. "There is no was responding to the political nature cide against Puerto Rico and Native question that Susan prejudiced her of the case. Rosenberg, writing from Americans. own case by putting on a political de­ the DC Jail, August 8, 1989, says Thejudge refused to allow this line of fense," she says. "If you behave as if "[Judge] Lacy's sentence of us was a defense. you're contemptuous of the court, you

18 PHOTO: COURTE SY DAEDALUS PRODUCTIONS ON THE ISSUES VOL XIII 1989 lose. They wouldn't play the game." "Characterizations in the press of to fight very hard to be aJewin prison." Lisa Roth was at the trial and be­ radicals of this period portray them as Rabbi Sholom Kalmanson, director lieves the conduct of the defendants unrepentant, crazed terrorists," of the Chabad House in Cincinnati, and their supporters was legitimate. McAdam comments, "but those who often visited Rosenberg in his capacity "We all knew the process was stacked have surfaced are clearly not crazy as Jewish chaplain at Lexington. The against them from the beginning," says people. They are radicals who took the Rabbi was the only visitor allowed other Roth. "They had obviously been shack­ new left to its logical conclusion." than her parents for 14 months. led to enhance the jurors' perspective It is, in fact, the label "terrorism" Kalmanson agrees that anti-Semi­ that they were dangerous and evil. The that attorneys for defendants in the tism exists within the prison system, prosecution didn't have to say any­ current trial take exception to. It is, despite the fact that there are rela­ thing. [One has] a political responsibil­ they maintain, the government's ex­ tively few Jewish prisoners. ity to disable that line of attack." cuse for retrying defendants already Denied her request to observe Cha­ According to Rosenberg, she stated in serving lengthy prison sentences; in nukah her first year at Lexington, her response to her sentencing that she second year she was allowed to light a would continue to struggle, and fight menorah. "Susan and 1 fought strongly for her beliefs alongside other political for her to be part of the Jewish services prisoners in prison. Rosenberg states Society really and to take part in the Seder, but she that her statement was translated by was forced to do chores during the holi­ the press into "Rosenberg called for days," he stated. armed revolution in prison" and that hates women. Most The dialectics between the Chabad became the basis for her "high security Orthodox rabbi and the anti-imperial­ status" and one of the reasons given by ist revolutionary woman must have the Bureau of Prisons for her transfer women who are been curious for both ofthem. Kalman­ to Lexington. son calls Rosenberg "an interesting, Theatrics notwithstanding, the se­ seeking person, but very gullible. Had verity of the sentences shocked the imprisoned are in she been more exposed to Judaism she legal community. Experts often cite would have been a very different per­ the earlier Weather Underground for for social crimes. ~ son." comparison, whose members, though Perhaps. admitting to bombings, were rarely, if Whatever the case, Rosenberg is con­ ever convicted of anything. crimes of survival vinced that prison authorities view her For example, in the early '70s, requests to practice Judaism as a ploy. Weather Underground leader Ber­ "I can't tell you how totally enraging nadine Dohrn sent a communique with that is to me - being Jewish is just her finger print to the authorities, Rosenberg's case, relitigating her origi­ part of who 1 am." declaring she was responsible for a nal trial in New Jersey. "There are not many Jewish women bombing, but she was never charged. "It's like the '50s," states attorney in U.S. prisons, so 1 am a rarity for "In 1970 the Weather Underground O'Melveny, "only instead of commu­ many reasons," she continued. "At first Organization bombed the U.S. capitol nism, it's the rubric of terrorism. The it would bother me when they'd yell - no one ever served a day injail for it," point is, if these people are terrorists, 'Rosenberg!' [in a deprecating tone] at Rosenberg says bitterly. "Now we are then their rights can be abused." And me, and now I'm just glad." charged with bombing the capitol and then, there was Rosenberg's religion. Those who have met Susan Rosen­ are called 'the most dangerous terror­ Although both her parents come from berg, both before and after her impris­ ists in America'." Orthodox Jewish homes, for the most onment, have been powerfully affected "In the 1960s and '70s, trials of vari­ part they led secular lives. Since her by her. Among her political friends and ous radical groups were carried out in imprisonment, Susan Rosenberg's re­ supporters there is a tendency to ideal­ an openly political manner," says Mary affirmation of her Jewish identity is, ize her, to speak of her in terms of near K. O'Melveny, a New York attorney she says, connected to the "profound" martyrdom. Women especially find her who became Rosenberg's lawyer after anti-Semitism she has encountered in inspiring. her trial. "Today, people are afraid to prison and at the hands oflaw enforce­ "She touches that part of us that is question or challenge the system in the ment officials. dissatisfied with the way the world is," same open way, so that judges who Carrying false identification at the remarked one woman attorney who have repressive positions regarding time of her arrest, Rosenberg refused has befriended Rosenberg. political dissent can punish the dis­ to reveal her true identity. The police "Her strength and honesty and will­ senters far more severely, without fear had called in FBI agents, one of whom ingness to 'put her money where her oftriggering wider political protest." looked at her and told the police officer, mouth is' is a challenge to us all," says There is scant information on any of "That bitch is a kike. Go check the Lisa Roth. "You look at her and think, the radical leftist groups active in the records for a name." if she could survive Lexington, then 1980s. Few historians or political sci­ "When I heard that," Rosenberg re­ you could too." entists have ever heard of Susan calls today, "I knew that I was at the Many women identify with Rosen­ Rosenberg, or the May 19 Communist beginning of a whole new stage of my berg. "I can imagine myself, under dif­ Organization. Most tend to be dismis­ life. I knew I had really been cap­ ferent circumstances, taking the route sive, some denunciatory, others tured." Susan took," says a legal aide who frankly mystified. "Anti-Semitism in prison is really works with prisoners. Sociologist Douglas McAdam, author extreme," she says, "more so than I Another woman attorney, after visit­ of the recently published Freedom ever experienced growing up in New ing Rosenberg in prison, sold her busi­ Summer, calls this period "the black York. This has really pushed me along, ness and is dedicating her life to help­ hole of political science." along with my own internal processes, ing a woman who, in all probability,

ON THE ISSUES VOL XIII 1989 19 will never leave prison. sexual differences. I think the other now than ever before. But, I couldn't Like chasing a shadow, it is difficult, political prisoners involved in my case tell you that I would condemn violence. if not impossible, for someone not di­ came out of this period of intensive MH: You know, there's a wonderful rectly involved in her case to under­ activity against the government. One saying by Ghandi, "The means are an stand who Susan Rosenberg is. She is of the most important things about us end in process." One must question locked up literally and figuratively. is an identification with the oppressed. what kind of "just society" is built on She will discuss her beliefs, describe I feel as if I never could stop learning the foundation of armed struggle. prison conditions, talk about the com­ from oppressed peoples. SR: I agree. It's something that I've raderie she felt with the other women MH: Many people have feelings for the thought a lot about in the last number at Lexington. Under continuing litiga­ oppressed and the injustices of this of years. I wish I had then. tion, however, she cannot discuss her world and many people connect on dif­ I'm left with all these questions, but life underground, and those who knew ferent levels of political struggle, but one of the things that's clear is that the her then will not speak. you put yourself at risk of completely government is trying to get us to reas­ In a letter on Rosenberg's behalf to sess, to apologize, to get us to say we the sentencing judge requesting her won't ever do anything again - and, sentence be commuted, author Doris for all of us, certainly for myself, I'm Schwerin wrote: "I would stake my not going to say that to the greatest own life on the certainty that Susan I'm not involved in terrorist state in the world. Rosenberg is a garden to be saved, that MH: So in essence you are willing to she may save others." revolutionary social stay in prison under intensely difficult There is much beyond the slogans, conditions for the rest of your life? the political rhetoric, the endless legal SR: If! have to, that's what I'll do. It's • I battles - even for the right to eat with change because not a pleasant thought but I didn't do it the other women or to walk without for personal gain to begin with; and shackles. Perhaps some day she will there wasn't anybody saying "Do this". write about herself - her lo ves, her I love the violence I think you have to take responsibility sexuality, and what drove her to such for your own actions. extreme confrontations. Perhaps some MH: Do you see yourself as a martyr? day she will write her own book. SR: No. I don't want to be. For now, she speaks to us from her losing your freedom. What motivated MH: You may have to give up all hope silence. that level of activity? Is it just the final for a so -called "normal life". Merle Hoffman: If I were to say "Who step in a political process? SR: Yes, but I like to think that the is Susan Rosenberg?", how would you SR: In part. I really believe that you best part of my life is in front of me. I define her? have do what you say you believe in. like to think, and I do think, that most Susan Rosenberg: I would say I'm a MH: That includes armed struggle­ of the contributions that I and the revolutionary. I'm an anti-imperalist. does it not? other imprisoned people in this case I am woman-oriented woman in the SR: Let me put it this way. I believed have to make are important. You have sense that I believe in and am totally then and I believe now that under in­ to make certain sacrifices. committed to the liberation of women; ternationallaw oppressed peoples/na­ The limitations on physical freedom and I'm a doctor of Chinese medicine tions have the right to determine their are so profound. Last weekend was the and acupuncture. I'm a product of the own destinies, and that includes the first time any of us [in this case] had social movements of the '60s and '70s right to wage an armed struggle - and been outside in almost a year - liter­ in this country with a very unique kind that's happening - it's happening all ally, we finally got a court order from of experience that made me dedicate over the third world and it's happening the judge to let us go outside. I guess he my life to justice. here as well. I believe that and I sup­ decided a year was enough, and it did MH: What was that experience? port that. I also believe that when you a lot of good on the human rights rec­ SR: My parents had many, many come from a country with the greatest ord. We went outside for two hours - friends who were touched by the war machine in the world and a coun­ what can I say, it was great. For me it McCarthy blacklist and were associ­ try and a government that is respon­ was the biggest space I've been in for ated with left-wing organizations. I sible for state terrorism all over the four-and-a-half years. What you said went to a progressive high school and globe, we, as citizens of this country, about the physical reality of spending grade school that was completely in­ have an absolute responsibility to try a lot of time under these kinds of con­ volved in the Civil Rights movement. and stop that in a number of ways. At ditions is very true, but, at the same This combination ofthe Viet N am War, the time I felt that supporting national time, it's also true that I feel freer in the Civil Rights movement and seeing liberation struggles that were fighting my heart than I ever have before. a need for justice, put me in a direction the United States was the most impor­ MH: There are wounds and there are that I've basically never left. tant way I could make a statement and very intense scars, I'm sure. MH: Did you have any role models? say "No, this is not going to go on in my SR: And I haven't begun to fully under­ SR: Emma Goldman. I read Liuing My name as well." So in that sense I sup­ stand them yet. Life when I was 13. I feel fortunate port armed struggle. MH: Tell me about your days here - that I became part of a movement At this point I have a huge amount of what are they like? when I was in my early teens. There questions about a number of things. SR: DC is a county jail and we are in a was a sense that you could really When you're in prison for a long time category that is known as "pre-trial change something. I guess I could say you get to think about and evaluate detention". So, we technically have a that I fell in love with the idea that everything. I would look at the ques­ lot more rights than federal prisoners. people could control their own desti­ tion of life and responsibility and However, we've been in jail probably nies, free of serious class, racial and armed struggle much more seriously longer than 80 percent of most people

20 ON THE ISSUES VOL XIII 1989 who ever even go to prison; my term now stands at 58 years. DC is totally different than federal prison which is centralized, bureaucratic, repressive and a much more controlled environ­ ment. Most ofthe time that I've been in prison I have been in solitary confine­ ment or in small isolation with a group ofthree offour other people. Now as a result of a lot of legal and political fights with the courts - I'm in the general population. I've never been in the general population before. It's both completely better on a human level and also very, very difficult. MH : How is it difficult? SR: Well, you get used to being locked up and you make a certain kind of mental adjustment...there is a ques­ tion of resocializing. It's very intense. This is a 99 percent Black jail and we are white prisoners in for a political crime, so there is a very great divide between what we are here for and what Alejandrina Torres (left), Susan and activities of the right and/or the left. the majority of the prisoners are here Silvia Baraldini were mon itored con­ SR: I'm against terrorism but I think for. stantly by male guards. the whole issue of violence or a rela­ MH: But aren't you here for them in tionship to violence and terrorism is essence? drug wards for a population of 1300- complicated. There is violence in a SR : Absolutely, but when we first got 1400 people. There is really no activity system where you have 30 million here, the authorities locked us up, put that people can do. There are no books. people who have no health care - how us in individual cells, and called meet­ There is a law library but we are not many people are dying of AIDS who ings of the prison population saying allowed in. I teach a yoga class a couple have nothing? - no programatic an­ that we were racists who had tried to of times a week and we are trying to swer in the richest country in the world bomb Jesse Jackson. For the first help people learn how to read. that should have socialized medicine. couple of weeks they created a very, MH : What are the options for you in So, violence has many faces .. .I'm not very dangerous situation, basically terms of your own sentence? You say involved in revolutionary social change hoping that somebody would do some­ you don't expect to serve it out. because I love the violence - I think thing to one of us so that we would SR : It's so extreme. There is a certain that violence has to be stopped - but I have to ask for protective custody. Pro­ irony about all this. From the begin­ think that the most extreme and diffi­ tective custody in prison marks you ning it was obvious that the govern­ cult forms of violence stem from the forever because it implies that you are ment was being completely vindictive system under which we live and I think working with the police. So they put because of who we are. There are six of it's the system that's responsible for a out all these rumors, and, fortunately, us in this case and we've all been im­ multitude ofthese faces of violence. we were able through talking and prisoned for at least four years or longer MH : What is the essence of being a through our reputations that preceded and, out of the six of us, we've been revolutionary? us and through some people being through 14 different classifications in SR: For revolutionaries there is the conscious, to say - no we're here for four years. We have a total of 300 years need to change the system fundamen­ the exact opposite. Since then, we have worth of jail sentence time among us tally. I don't really think change can been able to build a lot of unity with already. They used the word "Terror­ take place through politics without a the population, but it's not perfect be­ ist" in order to punish us in ways they complete restructuring of the system cause even inside this situation, ra­ wouldn't normally do. There are con­ from beginning to end, from top to the cism continues to function. Now things stitutional and human rights for bottom, but maybe it can. Maybe the are okay, and people have an everybody except terrorists. kind of massive social upheaval that enormous amount of respect for us and MH: Are you a terrorist? will take some resistance forms and we've been able to organize here. I SR: No, I am not a terrorist - I've legal forms will be able to do that. write letters to judges for people, never been a terrorist. I'm against ter­ MH: You are idealistic enough to still which is clearly one of the reasons why rorism. I'm against terrorism on the believe that people can change funda­ they put political people in isolation or right by the United States, and I'm mentally? control units: They know we are going against the terrorism on the left. Ter­ SR : I hope so. to organize against the conditions rorism is a political and military strat­ MH: There is a very heavy price for that that exist. There are no real programs egy that I think is wrong. A lot of what kind of change. What we're talking here as resources for people. There's no passes as right-wing stuff is absolute about is revolutionary struggle which rehabilitation to speak of. The main terrorism and this is also true of the in it's wake can potentially cause the things that exist are the religious left wing. I hate to say that ... deaths of millions of people. ministries that do try to provide some MH: I think it's important to be said. SR : I don't want you to come away kind of social services for people. There The results of terror and violence have is one educational program and two no politics. People can suffer from the continued on page 31

ON THE ISSUES VOL XIII 1989 PHOTO: COURTESY DAEDALUS PRODUCTION 21 ally no more than three people really understood the problem. Now, two-and­ a-half years later, I run for office and 8,000 people vote for me. That says an awful lot." ~ BERKELEY MEDEVICES. INC. And, like Diana Steck, the gO-pound "tV 907 CAMELIA STREET woman fighting a billion dollar corpo­ BERKELEY, CA 94710 ration, it changes us. Diana says of her work, "It changed my personality from being a person who thought that she always had to go along with the sys­ tem, into a person who had learned to speak up and really take control. I believe whole-heartedly that one per­ son can make a hell of a difference. Berkeley Medevices, Inc. Offers you a variety of OB/ GYN equipment and supplies Anything that you set your mind to, to assist you in your gynecological procedures, diagnosis and evaluation. you can achieve. And I never ever thought that way in my life." The VABRA® ASPIRATOR SYSTEM allows rapid accurate in·office screening It is because of the Lois Gibbses, the and diagnosis of endometrial cancer and its precursors. Cora Tuckers, the Diana Stecks and countless others that this movement The SYNEVAC® VACUUM CURETTAGE SYSTEM offers high capacity exists today. They are to be thanked vacuum pumps as well as an assortment of uterine aspiration disposable products. for the hard work they are doing, for the risks they are taking with their health and their lives, and for the role The SCOPEMASTER® CONTACT HYSTEROSCOPE is a safe, reliable diag· models they are providing to women nostic tool which allows rapid examination of the cervical canal and uterine cavity. everywhere. Thousands of women in all areas of the United States and For further information, please contact us TOLL FREE at 800·227·2388 millions throughout the world are fight­ (in California call 415·526·4046) ing toxics because they have to. These women should be joined by those of us who still have a choice, to preserve their victories and to win new ones for ourselves. • Karen Jan Stults writes for the Citi· If you zen's Clearinghouse for Hazardous Wastes (CCHW) in Arlington, VA (703- think 276-7070), where she is documenting the achievements of women activists in animal the grassroots movement against toxics research by recording their oral histories. She also coordinates the McToxics Cam­ benefits paign against styrofoam. you ... ROSENBERG from page 21

thinking that I'm repudiating revolu­ THINK AGAIN! tionary struggle for the United States because I'm not. I think all kinds of The cruelty of animal research is an unnecessary evil. Recent resistance are necessary. At this mo­ developments make animal research obsolete. Other and more precise methods exist and must be used. Many experiments ment in the United States we live in a involving whole live animals have and are being replaced by the violent society where the question of use of computers and tissue and cell cultures. morality and idealogy is defined by the ruling class. There is no alternative For over one hundred years The American Anti·Vivisection Society has been dedicated to educating the public concerning vision in place within any of the organ­ this evil abuse of animals. ized political movements. I think, for example, of the escalating violence that Join our efforts. Help free the millions of animals whose bodies would be tortured and finally sacrificed needlessly is going on against women and chil­ every year, year after year. dren in this society and the fact that THE AMERICAN ANTI· VIVISECTION SOCIETY there is no response. EstabHsht.d 1863 MH: Let's talk about women and femi­ For further 204 Noblt PI.ua. 80 I Old YOI k ROdd Jenkintown. PA 19046 nIsm. information MS. Mr. SR: I always felt independent and that 1'\15. Mrs. ______clip and mail being involved in social protest wasn't Add~55 ______enough without a very clear and con­ this coupon. scious struggle about women. I wouldn't City . ______say until recently I considered myself a (Not tax deductiblel Stat. ______Zip ______

Enroll m~ as: Life Member 550. Annual S I 0 - check enclosed. ON THE ISSUES VOL XIII 1989 feminist, although I was in on the how to stay in the world because what have human rights while beingimpris­ Women's Liberation movement and you know now, no longer is what is­ oned. This country violates our human involved in organizing and conscious­ but from what I can tell, there seem to rights at every level. Ifthere's going to ness raising when I went to Barnard be viable movements of social change. be "special" treatment of us [harsher College where I met a number ofwomen MH:Define what you mean by politi­ treatment, isolation] there should be who were influential in the growth cal prisoners. recognition; there should be political women's centers and the development SR: I would define political prisoners prisons; we should be allowed to have of consciousness. I was also involved as people who, because of their beliefs, political associations. with women in the anti-apartheid their associations and their actions, MH: They don't consider you political movement where we tried to organize have come into direct conflict with the prisoners. They consider you terror­ and deal as women within that reality. United States government and, as a ists. The judge compared you to drug MH: You saw class rather than gender result ofthat, have been incarcerated. dealers who shoot people on the street as the primary oppression? There are over several hundred in pris­ and then claim a political orientation. SR: It was both. Now I have much ons in the United States. SR: Well, I haven't shot anybody on more of a commitment and dedication That's a very generic and broad defi­ the street. .. to the liberation of women. You know, nition, but one that I think is accept­ MH: But they did pick you up with being attacked as a woman in prison able to the world. It is also one which hundreds of pounds of guns and explo­ has been a really intense and ongoing we fall under whether we're in prison sives. experience - probably the worst part for being part of social movements that SR: They did, but what I'm convicted of of being in prison. I was in Tucson oppose nuclear arms, support Puerto is possession, not use. Don Black, one before I was transferred to Lexington Rican independence or are fighting of the imperial wizards ofthe Ku Klux - we were sexually assaulted by fed­ against racist violence; are a product of Klan, was arrested with a boat load of eral prison guards.Males actually did sanctuary movements, are looking at weapons the same time that I was. He the assault but the females who were U.S. foreign policies in Central Amer­ was on his way to invade Dominica to in charge held us .. .it was a rectal and ica, are resisting the attacks that have try to overthrow the government. He cavity search - a full body search. It gone on against women. Under that got four years and was out after 23 was very intense .. .it took five women definition there are also other people months fundraising for the Ku Klux to hold me and a man did the search. I who are still in prison from what the Klan. If it's from the right it's terrific was very angry and very upset but I counter-intelligence program ofthe FBI and if it's from the left - it's death. think that experience, along with look­ did in the '60s and '70s - people who We don't line people up against a wall ing at the experiences of women in our were framed by the government. But and shoot them the way they do in society really up close, further radical­ most people in America don't believe every third world country. We kill them ized me concerning women's struggles. that there are political prisoners or slowly over the years, bury them in Interestingly enough, our case has political oppression. prison, where the brutalization, the been embraced by the Gay Liberation MH: ... or censorship - or any type of contempt and institutionalization is movement far more than by the left. restrictions ... used as a means to destroy people's MH: Why do you think that is? SR: Righ.k nothing. We're democratic political commitments and beliefs. SR: Part of it is that there are very and free:yne of the reasons the gov­ MH: But then, it's very primitive psy­ vocal lesbians in the case and their ernment has gone to such great lengths chology because if any~hing gives you coming out has really been a very im­ to bury us in prison - given us the more to live for, it's fighting for your portant thing. No matter what city I've incredible sentences - separated us beliefs, more opposition makes you been in, people who don't necessarily - sent us to different places - is to try stronger in your opposition. support my politics or support what I and keep a lid on the fact that there is SR: They don't see it that. way, that's stand for have been willing to build a social opposition - there isn't exactly why Lexington was able to be turned dialogue, have wanted to communi­ 100 percent social peace inside the around. They never expected the kind cate, wanted to visit - there's a collec­ United State~o recognize our exis­ of opposition that merged around the tive embracing of us. It's great, be­ tence means Ito recognize that there high security unit at Lexington. I think cause whatever my actual immediate is something going on with social that now we will see more sophisti­ sexual orientation is now, I feel com­ movements in America (as limited cated and not quite as extreme forms of pletely committed and dedicated to the and marginalized as they may be). political and social control over women full emancipation and human rights of MH: Let's say a revolutionary change who resist. gay and lesbian people. In our current takes place and a new order comes into There's a new place that they built, a society, homophobia dominates - I being - your vision of a just social high security unit in Marianna, FL, don't want to have any ideology that society, but people want to overthrow which is 100 women in an enclosed classifies, categorizes, oppresses or it because they find it intolerable to place, inside an all male prison. That's makes a judgment about what's an ac­ their moral value structure. Ifyou were where all the federal, maximum secu­ ceptable form of life and what isn't. in a position of power, how would you rity, high profile crimes go, it's com­ MH: So in other words there can be no deal with them? pletely controlled. It's not as bad as judgments about behavior? SR: I don't think I'd put them in a Lexington; it's not an experiment in SR: Oh no. There are societies that prison. I don't believe in prisons any­ total psychological torturing behavior, define a particular sexuali ty as being a more. I don't believe that prisons work. but there are no programs, no educa­ type of decadent capitalism. I disagree MH: What do you do with felons and tion and it's completely deviant by being with that. When you start quantifying people who break the law? in a men's prison. I've been a woman in oppressions, you're making a mistake. SR: It's a real problem. I'm not sure I a men's prison. It's the worst possible I also feel when you look at the world have any answer to it. No state recog­ thing. I spent seven weeks in segrega­ after you've been locked out for a long nizes its own opposition or gives it le­ tion in Tucson in the men's wing. It time, things become abstract. It's a gitimacy. I understand that completely; was the most frightening time I spent very big problem trying to figure out but there is an issue of being allowed to in prison. For example, I was in one cell

32 ON THE ISSUES VOL XIII 1989 and a man in another. When he heard Hikmet. He's a Turkish poet and a where you get labelled to be the most there was a woman (this man hadn't communist who brought epic poetry to extreme of the extremes, there's al­ been near a woman in years) it was an that part of the world. He spent 17 ways a choice - at every corner. obscene barrage of verbal abuse - 24 years in prison and he got the whole MH: So you would never see yourself hours a day. It was okay with the thing when he talks about being cap­ as a victim? guards, it was okay with the men pris­ tured and says that capture is not the SR: I've been victimized by the state oners. That mentality is the same men­ point - the point is never to surren­ in terms of its repressive apparatus; tality that's constructed a situation der. I think he's right...L-. I agree with but, on a subjective level, no, I'm not a like Marianna. that as a mentali ty for Ii ving in w ha t is victim - I made my choices and com­ The men's prison has educational basically a war between the govern­ mitments - I'll stand by that. • classes - you can go to college and get ment and us, so every time you sur­ a degree. I'm not saying that prison for vive, you win. HOFFMAN from page 3 men is good, but relative to what they MH: What do you miss the most? want to create for women, it's better. SR : I think, aside from the human that women truly feel responsible and So, I think they are trying to use women touch, the ocean. I miss the ocean - empowered about their sexuality and political prisoners and our so-called very basic things. I miss the social life choices. As long as women remain "special security needs" to justify in­ contact. I miss having any children. economically and politically inferior, creasing the repression for all women MH: Is there a message in all this? all education and intellectual, ideo­ in prison. Society really hates women. SR: I can't say I don't believe many of logical or political gains along the way Most women who are imprisoned are the same things - I do. But in terms of will be shallow victories. Alternative in for social crimes - crimes of sur­ a view of the world - dogma; you can't programs should be developed whereby vival. Let me tell you a story: In this resist repression with dogma. As far as women's groups, organizations and place, like many places, they distrib­ prison, the repressive apparatus tries college Women's Studies departments ute sanitary pads. You're given a cer­ to dehumanize you and create a men­ can activate volunteers to go to the tain number a week. If you need more, talitythat's defined by brutality. Ifyou junior high schools, high schools and you have to ask for them. One day abuse that humanity, then they win community groups to educate students there was a woman in my unit yelling, and you lose - you have to identify about birth control in the context of "I 'leed more than my four sanitary with the people that you're with and their lives, which would necessarily pads I'm allowed." The male guard love them - understanding all the include discussion of politics and indi­ said, "Why?" And she said, "I need contradictions - there is something to vidual responsibility. more sanitary pads." He said, "If you be gained and learned from every in­ Women arethe majority ofthis coun­ don't tell me why, forget it." She said, terre action at every level. It's a chal­ try's health care consumers, yet have "Fuck you", and he said, "Well, you're lenge to one's own continuing racism almost nothing to say about how funds not going to get them," and she started and arrogance. Even in this system or Research and Development monies screaming "I'm bleeding, I'm bleeding, and if you don't give them to me, it's really going to get rough." He said, "I'm really glad yop. told me that. Bleed, bitch." And walked away. MH : How do you deal with the rage and the frustration? SR: I got sick at Lexington from that MEDICAL kind of rage. I didn't make myself sick SUPPLIES - they made me sick. You get sick CORPORAT ION because you contain the rage. I lost sleep. I wrote about it. I, too, feel that one day - consequences be damned ...I'll fight for our dignity every time I can - what else can I do? There's really not much else to do. I get angry, I scream, I bounce off the walls - I hate men more and more and more every day. I don't mean it politically or "Suppliers quite that way, but it's increasingly difficult for me to navigate politely when the rage is contained - all of us to the Trade" are defined and labelled "terrorists" - and they're just waiting for us to riot ...The issue is to never lose it. I never have in quite that way. That was the thing at Lexington. They pushed us and pushed and pushed .. . MH: But they haven't broken you. You're still talking about the best 228 ~herwood Ave. years. That's a lot of energy positively directed. Farmingdale, N.Y. 11 735 SR: It isn't quite that self-conscious. (516) 420-1700 There's a poet I love a lot, named N azin

ON THE ISSUES VOL XIII 1989