----- Original Message ----- From: John Clancy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, August 15, 2000 10:32 PM Subject: [Cuba SI] WW: Whose streets? Why jails? Solidarity.Democracy's teeth from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subject: WW: Whose streets? Why jails? Solidarity. Democracy's teeth Delivered-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> List-Archive: <http://wwpublish.com:8080/Lists/wwnews/List.html> Sender: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>(WW News Service) To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>(WW News Service) Precedence: list From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2000 01:23:57 -0400 Subject: [WW] Whiose Streets? Our Streets! X-Original-Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Aug. 17, 2000 issue of Workers World newspaper ------------------------- WHOSE STREETS? OUR STREETS! By Imani Henry Tuesday, Aug. 1. It was absolutely exhilarating to take the streets of Philadelphia and hold them for over two hours. No permit, no negotiations with the police. If they said left, we went right, carrying the International Action Center banners demanding "Not one more lynching," "New trial for Mumia" and "Justice for Robert Brown and Thomas Jones." We started with about 40 people on the sidewalk. Soon there were a few hundred. Larry Holmes was chanting on the microphone and people just started to join us, taking placards and chanting with us. Soon we captured the street, seizing hold of intersections and marching against the flow of traffic. At one point we surrounded a group of Republican delegates boarding a bus. We faced off against riot police and held the block so they could not move. We provided support to those courageous young activists who were locking down buildings and creating blockades, so the cops could not brutalize them. Other affinity groups used our march as an escape route, joining up with us for a while, then running off to get to another blockade site. It was fortunate that the banners carried such a strong anti-racist message. The police raided the warehouse holding the puppets and signs the R2K forces had prepared. We were able to help by giving the day's activities an open political expression. But most of all, everyone saw the march as a victory--a mobile action that shut down the streets in defiance of racist repression and the death penalty. At JFK Blvd. and 15th St., right in front of City Hall, several of us from the IAC shut down the intersection in the name of Shaka Sanfoka and Mumia Abu-Jamal. Joined by other protesters, we battled police on bicycles, whose newest tactic is to ram their bike wheels and handles into people. It took them over an hour to arrest us. Meanwhile, hundreds of people chanted for the freedom of Mumia. There's nothing like chanting "Whose streets? Our streets!" and knowing for a fact that the streets belong to the people. [Imani Henry is a national coordinator of Rainbow Flags for Mumia.] - END - (Copyleft Workers World Service. Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) ------------------ This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Send administrative queries to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ************ sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subject: Anti-Racist solidarity-Philly Delivered-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> List-Archive: <http://wwpublish.com:8080/Lists/wwnews/List.html> Sender: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>(WW News Service) To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>(WW News Service) Precedence: list From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2000 01:23:57 -0400 Subject: [WW] Anti-Racist Solidarity in a Philly Jail Cell X-Original-Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Aug. 17, 2000 issue of Workers World newspaper ------------------------- REPORT OF A PARTICIPANT: ANTI-RACIST SOLIDARITY IN A PHILLY JAIL CELL By Larry Holmes When I was arrested in Philadelphia with many of my comrades on the evening of Aug. 1, I met lots of wonderful activists who had come from around the country to protest the Republican Convention. One of the few virtues of being stuck in lockup is that it gives you plenty of opportunity to talk. Many of the protesters in the jail under the Philadelphia police station had come to town to participate in a day of direct action against the death penalty, the prison-industrial complex, and to free Mumia Abu-Jamal. But others had not come to demonstrate specifically on anti-racist issues. They were most concerned about the general evils of world domination by U.S. transnational corporations, as represented by the Republican Party. The long hours in lockup gave me an opportunity to talk with my fellow cellmates--most of them young, white, idealistic, good people. (The mostly Black and Latino young people who usually occupy the cells in the Roundhouse were moved to the county jail to make way for anti-GOP protesters.) My comrades and I talked for hours about the importance of linking our actions to the issues that most affect the Black and Latino communities of Philadelphia. We talked about how the recent, savage videotaped beating of Thomas Jones and the summary execution of Robert Brown, both at the hands of Philadelphia cops, made an anti- repression, anti-racist message most relevant and necessary at the moment. We talked about Mumia Abu-Jamal and Shaka Sankofa and the need to show solidarity with the struggle of prisoners and the nearly 4,000 residents of death row. During a cellblock meeting involving about 120 arrested protesters, four demands were proposed and agreed upon. First, the right to see our own lawyers; second, the right of leaders not to be isolated from the rest of the prisoners; third, that bail be dropped; and fourth, that all charges be dropped or reduced. Someone proposed that those who could, go on a hunger strike in support of these demands. My comrades and I suggested that we make the hunger strike in solidarity with the 2 million-plus prisoners residing in concentration camps across the country. This proposal was unanimously approved and the hunger strike was dubbed "Hunger for Justice." On Aug. 3, we learned that supporters outside the prison would be gathering at 9 p.m. to hold a rally for those of us inside. Although we were all tired, having slept and eaten little over the past 48 hours, we decided to chant as loud as we could, to sing as loud as we could, to bang on the metal jail walls and metal jail cots, in the hopes that if we stomped our feet and chanted loud enough, our supporters outside might hear us. Commencing at 9 o'clock sharp, we started chanting, "Brick by brick, wall by wall, we're gonna free Mumia Abu-Jamal." Then we chanted, "The cops say get back, we say fight back. The guards say get back, we say fight back.. Death row. Bush. the Democrats." and on and on. We chanted the "41 bullets" chant in memory of Amadou Diallo. We sang "Solidarity Forever" and other protest songs from the civil rights and Black liberation movements. Although no one had had a decent meal or brushed their teeth for more than two days, we all felt a lot better and a lot closer by the time 10 o'clock rolled around. - END - (Copyleft Workers World Service. Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) ------------------ This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Send administrative queries to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ********** sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subject: Delivered-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> List-Archive: <http://wwpublish.com:8080/Lists/wwnews/List.html> Sender: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>(WW News Service) To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>(WW News Service) Precedence: list From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2000 01:23:58 -0400 Subject: [WW] R2K: Capitalist "Democracy" Bares its Teeth X-Original-Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Aug. 17, 2000 issue of Workers World newspaper ------------------------- R2K PROTESTERS RESIST AS CAPITALIST "DEMOCRACY" BARES ITS TEETH By Fred Goldstein The "great" U.S. system of capitalist democracy showed its sharp teeth in Philadelphia this past week as the government violated virtually every legal and constitutional right of hundreds of protesters. Despite high levels of repression and tactical setbacks, however, the new movement that began with last year's protests against the World Trade Organization in Seattle showed its vitality, its determination to fight the system, and its ability to expand its politics of resistance to make the struggle against racism a centerpiece of the fight against global capitalism. The program of the Aug. 1 direct actions was against racism, the prison-industrial complex, the death penalty and for the freedom of Mumia Abu-Jamal. A similar offensive is planned for Los Angeles. The government mounted a three-pronged attack on the new youthful, anti-capitalist, anti-racist resistance movement. This consisted of a COINTELPRO-type undercover operation, the unleashing of the brutal Philadelphia police and prison guards, and a star chamber court process. The big-business media was a vital part of the operation as it systematically censored the anti-racist political message of the demonstration. The events in Philadelphia show that capitalist democracy means democracy for the capitalists and repression for those who resist the rule of capital. As of Aug. 9, the R2K Network reported, 323 prisoners of the 456 or more arrested remain in Philadelphia jails. The prisoners are subject to beatings, hog-tying and inhumane crowding; sexual threats and abuse; denial of food, water and medicine; inadequate legal representation, illegal arraignments and incredibly high bails; and numerous other outrages. Many were arrested away from the demonstrations because they had been "profiled" as demonstrators, legal observers or sympathizers. Many were surrounded by police while on the streets, beaten and dragged off to jail. Others were stopped while driving, arbitrarily arrested and had their vehicles confiscated. `CIVIL RIGHTS CATASTROPHE' An Aug. 6 Philadelphia Inquirer article circulated by the New York City Direct Action Network quoted Rita Glazebnik, a 22-year-old protester from Union City, N.J., who was released from jail. "The people that did not comply were tortured," she said. "They were pulled by the hair, they were kicked. A girl that weighed 96 pounds--she was weighed in front of me--was thrown on the ground and they stepped on her head." The Inquirer also interviewed Joseph Rogers, executive director of the National Mental Health Consumers' Self-Help Clearinghouse, who was arrested while trying to stop an illegal arrest. "I was locked up for two nights myself, and at one point I was hog-tied by plastic restraints from my right arm to my left ankle and told to hop back to my cell. "When I told the guard I had a bad knee on which I had had surgery, they made me crawl back to my cell. They did this to me because I raised my voice in protest about another prisoner who was being tortured." Jimmy Graham, an R2K Network legal observer, told the Inquirer that when he was photographing a woman's arrest, "an officer knocked the camera out and stomped on my face, wedged my skull against the sidewalk. . The officer said, `I've been watching you for three days.' " Graham was arrested and suffered abrasions all over his face. According to an Aug. 3 R2K Network report, published on the Internet by the Independent Media Center of Philadelphia, bail for protesters practicing jail solidarity by refusing to give their names was set between $15,000 and $450,000. "To my knowledge, bail has never been set so high for misdemeanor charges in the history of this country," declared Ron McGuire, an R2K legal representative. "I consider this a civil rights catastrophe of the first order," he added. While John Sellers of the Ruckus Society eventually had his bail reduced from $1 million to a "mere" $100,000, Kate Sorensen of ACT UP Philadelphia is still being held on $1 million bail. Sorensen is charged with 10 felonies. There were numerous undercover operations mounted against the demonstrators. An Aug. 4 release by the IMC reported on what happened to a Texas delegation from the Dallas County Green Party and Dallas Progressive Action League. Nineteen people filled their van. They were supposed to meet a group outside the Greyhound bus terminal in Philadelphia and give support to a particular planned activity. The van's owner, Scott (he would not release his last name for obvious reasons), told the IMC that "there were actually three undercover police officers in our affinity group." "One was driving Scott's van," the IMC reported. The driver was supposed to drive a certain route. He passed his turn and "drove right instead into a crowd of 15 Pennsylvania State Police officers." The driver hopped out, got into a police car and drove off. Everyone else was arrested. WAREHOUSE CENTER RAIDED Another IMC dispatch on Aug. 7 reported that Lt. Jeffrey Herold of the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department was "on the scene in the warehouse raid in Philly. He also participated in the April 15 raid on the puppet building, convergence space, the preemptive strike on the World Bank/IMF demonstrators" in Washington. Herold is in charge of Special Operations of the D.C. Metro Police and was part of a disinformation project on April 16. The raid on the warehouse, the arrest of 70 people and the destruction of the large puppet displays exposing the racist and criminal injustice system were key to the government disruption. The warehouse was a vital organizing center for the activity. The shredding of the puppets showed the police fear of the anti-racist political message getting out. Ever since the Seattle demonstrations against the World Trade Organization, the capitalist government has been trying to figure out how to defeat the new movement. Tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets and arrests only spurred the movement on in Seattle. A massive police presence, mass arrests, preventive detention and a media campaign of vilification in Washington on April 16 did not deter the movement from trying to shut down the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. MOVEMENT TAKES BIG STEP FORWARD The Philadelphia direct actions and demonstrations of Aug. 1 were potentially a major political threat to the ruling class. Not only were the protests directed at the Republican National Convention, but their demands struck at a fundamental pillar of U.S. capitalism--racism and national oppression. The call for a day of resistance was initiated by the Aug. 1 Direct Action Coalition, Continental Direct Action Network, the CD Committee of the New York Free Mumia Abu- Jamal Coalition and the Student Liberation Action Movement at Hunter College in New York. It was strongly supported nationally by the International Action Center. The Philadelphia Direct Action Group played a vital local role. International Concerned Family & Friends of Mumia Abu- Jamal, ACT UP, Refuse and Resist! as well as the Black Block and other organizations also participated. Despite the repression, the fighting spirit of the movement has not been contained. This is illustrated in the "Letter from John Does at CFCF"--Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility. The letter from 24 male prisoners was reprinted by the IMC on Aug. 6. "Our actions in the streets of Philadelphia were intended to shine a light on the incarceration of 2 million people in the U.S.," says the letter, "on the systematic use of police brutality to terrorize whole communities, on the racism and cruelty of the death penalty, on the many political prisoners, including Mumia Abu-Jamal, who are caged for their commitment to social justice. Our actions were aimed at disrupting the Republican Convention to the best of our ability. While we're sorry for any inconvenience we may have caused the people of Philadelphia, we are proud of what we did to expose this rotten system." It is because of this spirit of resistance to the system that the billionaires are so afraid of the new movement and seek to destroy it. It is for that reason that everyone must come to the defense of the prisoners and defendants in Philadelphia and those who may come under attack in Los Angeles. There were undoubtedly tactical setbacks in Philadelphia based upon the new level of repression. But the bigger victory was putting forward the struggle against racism and national oppression as a natural extension of the struggle against capitalist global exploitation. Ultimately the movement must find a way to combine its militant, combative spirit with an approach to the mass movement of the workers and the oppressed, for they can truly shut the system down. The working class has the ultimate class power to destroy capitalist exploitation. - END - (Copyleft Workers World Service. Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) ------------------ This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Send administrative queries to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ********** sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Delivered-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> List-Archive: <http://wwpublish.com:8080/Lists/wwnews/List.html> Sender: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>(WW News Service) To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>(WW News Service) Precedence: list From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2000 01:23:58 -0400 Subject: [WW] Philly: Supporters Aid Jailed Activists X-Original-Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Aug. 17, 2000 issue of Workers World newspaper ------------------------- PHILADELPHIA: SUPPORTERS AID JAILED ACTIVISTS As of Aug. 9, some 323 protesters against the prison- industrial complex and the death penalty were still imprisoned in Philadelphia, according to the R2K Network. City officials claimed there were only 152 still being held. The activists were arrested during Aug. 1 protests against the Republican National Convention. Groups of supporters are camped out at three local prisons, ready to aid protesters as they are released. About 80 protesters who were willing to give their names and addresses to the police were released by Aug 4. More have been released since then after paying high bails. But most could not afford the outrageously high bails--up to $1 million--for misdemeanor charges. The International Action Center demanded a meeting with Mayor John Street and American Civil Liberties Union representative Stefan Presser. Both men claimed they did not believe police brutality had occurred against protesters kept in the Roundhouse police station for several days after the Aug. 1 protests. More than a dozen released protesters signed a letter asking for a face-to-face meeting to tell them what really happened. Media reports have attempted to whitewash police actions during the imprisonment. In related news, the most serious charges against Thomas Jones were dropped June 7, including attempted murder of a police officer. District Attorney Lynne Abraham conceded that forensic evidence proved a wounded police officer was shot by another cop, not Jones. Jones' beating by a mob of cops made international news after it was filmed by a TV helicopter July 12. --Joe Piette, story and photo - END - (Copyleft Workers World Service. Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) ------------------ This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. 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