> > WW News Service Digest #93 > > 1) Mumia: " State Violence is Ubiquitous" > by [EMAIL PROTECTED] > 2) Alert: Shaka Sankofa Beaten & Gassed > by [EMAIL PROTECTED] > 3) May Day Around the World: 5/18/00 > by [EMAIL PROTECTED] > 4) Thousands at Kent Hear Mumia Speak > by [EMAIL PROTECTED] >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the May 18, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >MUMIA TO KENT STUDENTS: "STATE VIOLENCE IS UBIQUITOUS" > >[Political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal sent the following >message to the 30th anniversary of the Kent State >massacre:] > > > >When I was asked to write some words about the Kent State >massacre of May 1970 in Ohio, my mind's eye filled like a >bucket under a dripping sink. Each word a drop--not of >water, but of blood. Each drop a shimmering round crimson >mirror which plops into a reddened basin and overflows. >Each drop is a bright place that communicates a world in a >word. > >My Lai. Kent State. Hiroshima. Philadelphia. Tulsa. >Jackson State. Rosewood. Haymarket Square. Waco. Wounded >Knee. Sand Creek. Fort Pillow. Attica. Of course for any >student of history this list could go on and on and on, for >massacres are integral to the American enterprise. > >What these bloodstained markers of history, and somewhat >fairly recent 20th-century history I might add, teach us is >the ubiquity of state violence, as well as the impunity of >state actors who commit what could be called, if it >happened anywhere else, crimes against humanity. > >How much time in prison did the trained killers of Kent >State do; how about the trained killers of the students at >Jackson State? I think they received the same sentence as >the bombers of the MOVE house in Philadelphia, the exact >same one as the highly trained killers of Waco, and >ultimately the same as the killers of Amadou Diallo, and >the vicious killers of Attica. No time, no sentence, for >the system saw this as no crime. > >Kent State teaches that a so-called free society will >slaughter students who are exercising their alleged >Constitutional right of demonstrating for peace and give >awards to the killers, and do so with impunity. > >The passions that drove over a quarter of a million people >into the streets against the Vietnam War have cooled in 30 >years. But for many, for the poor, for radical dissidents, >for prisoners, and increasingly for Black youth, that war >has come home. > >Kent State was indeed a vile and bloody marker, but as >Amadou Diallo shows us, the blood spilled by the state >continues to run. It also teaches us the very real limits >of the law. When it is the state itself that commits >criminal acts, all these absolutely awesome examples scream >at us from the charnel house of history. And none of these >vicious, premeditated mass murderers spent a single hour in >a jail cell. > >What does this tell you of the nature of things? In truth, >weren't those four kids at Kent State in fact liquidated >because they were exercising their alleged Constitutional >rights? What does this reveal about the true nature of the >state? Of America? Of the Constitution? > >My Lai, Kent State, Hiroshima, Philadelphia, Tulsa, >Jackson State, Rosewood, Haymarket Square, Waco, Wounded >Knee, Sand Creek, Fort Pillow, Attica. Place names of mass >murder. Blood drops falling into a vast red-stained bucket, >a bucket called America. > >Ona Move! Long live John Africa! > >>From death row, this is Mumia Abu-Jamal. > > - 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) > > >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Date: Wed, 10 May 2000 22:02:06 -0400 >Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII >Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT >Subject: [WW] Alert: Shaka Sankofa Beaten & Gassed >Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the May 18, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >ALERT: SHAKA SANKOFA BEATEN & GASSED > >Texas death-row activist Shaka Sankofa, formerly known as >Gary Graham, was beaten and gassed by hooded prison guards. >The assault reportedly happened after the Supreme Court >denied his final appeal. Gov. George W. Bush set an >execution date of June 22. > >Sankofa's friend Ricky Jason learned of the attack during >a May 9 visit. Jason said he did not recognize Sankofa, who >was "covered with filth with his shirt ripped . He had a >huge knot over his eyebrow and was shaking like a leaf, >stuttering and asking for food." All regular visits have >stopped, Sankofa said, and his personal property was taken >from him. > >Jason said: "The racism in the prison is very easy to see, >the guards are brutal and I haven't slept worrying about >the condition I saw Gary in and what may be happening to >him right now. Gary Graham is innocent and they know it!" > >Supporters are asked to call and fax protests to Governor >Bush, phone (512) 463-2000, fax (512) 463-1849; and Board >of Pardons and Parole Chair Gerald Garrett, phone (512) >463-1679, fax (512) 463-8120. > > --Greg Butterfield > > - 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) > > >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Date: Wed, 10 May 2000 22:04:26 -0400 >Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII >Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT >Subject: [WW] May Day Around the World: 5/18/00 >Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the May 18, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >MAY DAY AROUND THE WORLD: 5/18/00 > > SOUTH KOREA. > >May Day demonstrations across south Korea targeted plans to >sell off Daewoo Motors to foreign investors. Daewoo workers >have staged a series of strikes since April 6 to protest >the sell-off. > >On April 29, tens of thousands of workers marched through >Seoul, Pusan, Kwangju, and five other cities to prepare for >May Day demonstrations. The rallies were organized by the >Korean Confederation of Trade Unions. > >Slogans like "Don't sell Daewoo to foreigners" and "Release >arrested workers" covered banners and placards. Strike >leaders at Daewoo had been arrested earlier in the week for >their union activities. > >On May Day itself, student supporters of the workers took >center stage. Thousands faced off against riot police in >Seoul in what the big-business media called the "most >violent demonstration by student activists since President >Kim Dae-Jung took office in early 1998." At least 130 >students were arrested as the cops prevented the students >from joining the workers' demonstrations. > >Among the KCTU's other demands are a five-day work week, a >15-percent wage hike, parity between full-time and part- >time workers, and a ban on the sale of auto companies to >foreign firms. The Korean Federation of Trade Unions, >another of the union umbrellas in the capitalist south, >called for the government to nationalize Daewoo. > >The U.S. giants Ford and General Motors are frontrunners in >the bid to absorb Daewoo. The KCTU is calling for massive >strikes again on May 31 if the government allows the sale >to go forward. > > INDONESIA. > >Across Indonesia, thousands of workers took advantage of >the unstable political climate to air their grievances. In >Jakarta, some 1,500 workers responded to a call by the >National Front-Struggle for Indonesian Workers (FNPBI) for >a demonstration in front of the House of Representatives. > >FNPBI Chairperson Dita Sari--a member of the People's >Democratic Party--called on the government to recognize May >Day as a paid holiday, as it had been under Indonesia's >founding president Sukarno. Sukarno's government was >liquidated in 1965 in a mass anti-communist bloodbath in >which over a million communists and progressives were >murdered. > >Fired workers from PT Kong Tai Indonesia--a producer of >Reebok shoes--joined the Jakarta demonstration. > >Two hundred FNPBI workers rallied in Bandung. The Jakarta >Post reported that they demanded higher salaries, freedom >to organize unions, and sang "anti-capitalism songs." > >Other demonstrations--mostly numbering from 200 to 1,000-- >took place in cities across the island archipelago. > > PHILIPPINES. > >The militant May 1 Union (KMU) led demonstrations across >the Philippines. In Manila, the capital, some 5,000 KMU >members and thousands of allies demanded an end to >President Joseph Estrada's pro-International-Monetary-Fund >economic program of privatization and austerity. >Demonstrators took their march to the U.S. Embassy, a >symbol of the imperialist "globalization" imposed on the >Philippines. > >Tens of thousands of workers also marched in Mendiola, >Southern Tagalog, Visayas, and Mindanao. > >Members of BAYAN, an anti-imperialist federation, took part >in demonstrations alongside the KMU. In several cities >including Manila, riot police attempted to break up >demonstrations, provoking street fights. > > ECUADOR. > >Ecuador has been the scene of mass mobilizations against >"neoliberal" economic policies dictated by the >International Monetary Fund. May Day demonstrations took >aim at these policies. Fifty thousand workers, Indigenous >peasants and students took to the streets of Quito, burning >Uncle Sam effigies and mock dollars. > >In January, a popular uprising toppled the government of >Jamil Mahuad. Gustavo Noboa took the presidency with the >support of the Ecuadorian military and the U.S. government. >He has continued Mahuad's economic policies, including >imposing the U.S. dollar as the national currency. > >May Day demonstrators took over the Church of San Francisco >in Quito demanding that leaders of the January uprising be >released. The Noboa regime is refusing to release anyone >accused of advocating the "toppling" of the government. > >Antonio Vargas, leader of the Confederation of Indigenous >Nationalities of Ecuador, broke off talks with the Noboa >government at the end of April. He called for a "new >uprising" against the pro-IMF regime. > > BRAZIL. > >Land was the main demand across Brazil on International >Workers' Day. The Landless Movement (MST) launched a mass >campaign of land takeovers and demonstrations on May 1. The >aim is to pressure the government to move forward with land >reform. > >In 20 of Brazil's 27 states, peasants took over government >buildings to press their demands for land. Across the >country, 180 were wounded and over 400 arrested. > >In Sao Paolo and Rio de Janeiro, over 300 MST activists >took over offices of the National Social and Economic >Development Bank and the Institute for Agrarian >Development. The MST charges that the government has not >honored its promises to turn over land to 4.8 million >peasants. > >Thousands took part in the nationwide actions. > >"It was a day of struggle over the need of thousands of >families for arable land," said MST leader Diceu Boufler. >Actions continued throughout the week. > >Also on International Workers' Day, hundreds of thousands >of workers--many flying the red flag of the Workers' Party- >-demonstrated in Sao Paolo against low wages and >unemployment. > > JAPAN. > >Unemployment and economic crisis fueled May Day >demonstrations across Japan. Over 1.7 million Japanese >workers participated in the demonstrations across the >country, according to Asahi News. > >The official labor-union federation Rengo organized the >main rallies. Politicians from bourgeois opposition parties >addressed the workers since elections are coming up in >June. No representative of the governing Liberal Democratic >Party joined the events. > > GERMANY. > >Street battles between neo-fascist thugs and left-wing >youths marked May Day in cities across Germany. The German >government allowed the far-right National Democratic Party >to demonstrate in Berlin, then deployed thousands of cops >to protect it. > >The NDP makes appeals to working-class Germans based on >deteriorating economic conditions, especially in the >formerly socialist east. But it tries to channel anger into >anti-immigrant, "Germany-first" chauvinism--letting the >imperialist bosses off the hook. > >Fights broke out in Dresden, Ludwigshafen, Hamburg, and >Berlin. In Hamburg, over 100 people were arrested the night >before May Day as 500 youths erected barricades across >streets and faced off against riot police. The >demonstrators protested "imperialist centers and the lure >of capital." > >In Kreuzberg, traditionally a left stronghold in Berlin, >some 10,000 socialist, anarchist and "autonomous" youths >held a massive May Day demonstration. > >In all, over 400 people were arrested. > >At other rallies, union leaders called on the government to >address the growing number of corporate mega-mergers and to >increase taxes on big business. > > BRITAIN. > >Anti-capitalist demonstrators took to the streets of London >and Manchester. In London's Trafalgar Square, police penned >in thousands of leftists, including hundreds of members of >the Kurdish Workers Party. Nearby Kennington Square was >also a stronghold for May Day participants. > >A massive police presence--a total of close to 15,000 >police were deployed or on reserve--inevitably provoked >clashes. Young people confronted police cordons with stones >and bottles. The McDonald's restaurant on London's ritzy >street the Strand was completely trashed. > > MAURITANIA. > >According to the Free Confederation of Mauritanian Workers, >government police attacked workers at the International >Workers' Day march in Nouakchott. The report was received >by United Press International. > >The FCMW reported that at least 10 workers were "seriously >hurt" in "bloody confrontations" with the police. The >workers were protesting the government's economic program, >"especially the policy of bowing to the World Bank >reforms." > > NORWAY. > >Norway's National Union Confederation (LO) marked May Day >by preparing for a massive private-sector strike. On May 3, >over 80,000 workers in a broad range of industries were on >the picket line demanding higher wages and five weeks' paid >vacation. > >On May 5, the LO warned that it would escalate the strike >to make it the biggest strike since 1945. > > - 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) > > >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Date: Wed, 10 May 2000 22:50:42 -0400 >Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII >Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT >Subject: [WW] Thousands at Kent Hear Mumia Speak >Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the May 18, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >30TH ANNIVERSARY OF KENT, JACKSON STATE MURDERS > >By Martha Grevatt >Kent, Ohio > >On May 4, 1970, four students were murdered by the Ohio >National Guard during a militant protest against the U.S. >invasion of Cambodia. One week later, two African American >students were also murdered by National Guard troops, this >time in Jackson, Miss. This year is the 30th anniversary of >these state-sponsored killings. > >So it was especially fitting that the commemoration >featured the voice of another victim of government >repression: Mumia Abu-Jamal. > >Between 2,000 and 3,000 people attended the commemoration, >which brought together current Ohio students and veterans >of the movement against the Vietnam War. Witnesses to both >the Kent and Jackson State murders took part, including all >nine who were wounded May 4, 1970. > >Featured speakers included Vernon Bellecourt of the >American Indian Movement and the National Coalition on >Racism in Sports and Media; Juliette Beck, an organizer of >the anti-WTO demonstrations in Seattle; Julia "Butterfly" >Hill, an environmental activist who spent two years in a >redwood tree threatened by the logging industry; and Ramona >Africa of MOVE. > >Ramona Africa was loudly applauded when she drew the >connections among the cases of Abu-Jamal, Leonard Peltier, >the MOVE 9 and that day's assault on Vieques. > >The strongest applause of all was reserved for the "voice >of the voiceless." In a speech that was short yet profound, >political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal's words echoed off the >very grassy hill where the infamous murders took place. > >The positive response to Abu-Jamal's words was a >tremendous victory for the death-row prisoner's supporters >on campus. When the group Anti-Racist Action proposed Abu- >Jamal as a speaker, the May 4th Task Force voted >unanimously in favor of it. When the news media got wind of >it, however, they vociferously attacked the students. > >A Cleveland Plain Dealer editorial cartoon mimicked a >famous photo of a young woman weeping over the body of a >slain Kent student. The cartoon showed her weeping over the >body of police officer Daniel Faulkner. > >When Abu-Jamal's statement was finally heard, all of the >cameras turned away from the crowd of thousands, focusing >on a racist counter-demonstration of three college >Republicans. > >But like the Antioch graduating class of 2000 that invited >Abu-Jamal to deliver a commencement keynote, with their >courageous actions the students at Kent State University >have broken through the information blockade imposed by the >capitalist media. In the 1980s, the anti-apartheid movement >made Nelson Mandela a household name. Now the movement to >save Mumia Abu-Jamal's life is trying to do the same. > > - 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) > > __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi ___________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe/unsubscribe messages mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________
