>
> WW News Service Digest #95
>
> 1) Jamil Al-Amin: Georgia seeks death sentence
> by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> 2) U.S. assault on Vieques aimed at Puerto Rican nation
> by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> 3) More obstacles ahead before Eli�n can go home?
> by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> 4) Haiti: Tensions and violence grow because of U.S. maneuvers
> by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> 5) The Love Bug
> by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> 6) Put the war criminals in the dock
> by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> 7) Sports superstars won't scab
> by "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>-------------------------
>Via Workers World News Service
>Reprinted from the May 18, 2000
>issue of Workers World newspaper
>-------------------------
>
>JAMIL ABDULLAH AL-AMIN: GEORGIA SEEKS DEATH SENTENCE
>
>By S. Tomlinson
>Atlanta
>
>Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, formerly known as H. Rap Brown,
>has spent a lifetime fighting racism. Now, in the ultimate
>irony, it appears that racism's most powerful weapon will
>be turned against him.
>
>The district attorney of Fulton County, Ga., announced in
>early May that he intends to seek the death penalty against
>Al-Amin for the March 16 shooting death of a Fulton County
>sheriff's deputy.
>
>Approximately 90 percent of those whom U.S. prosecutors
>seek to execute are African American or Latino. A recent
>study showed that Black people in Philadelphia are nearly
>four times as likely to get the death penalty as other
>defendants under similar circumstances.
>
>The case against Al-Amin is tangled with unanswered
>questions, police misconduct and outright lies. Yet the
>prosecutors feel confident enough to make this a capital
>case and pursue the death penalty against a respected
>community leader.
>
>The only identified eyewitness is a second deputy, who was
>wounded in the incident. He initially could not identify
>the shooter, but he identified Al-Amin the next day.
>
>This deputy said that he clearly wounded the assailant in
>the shootout. Investigators first on the scene that night
>found a trail of fresh blood. However, after Al-Amin's
>arrest, it became apparent that he had not been wounded. So
>now the authorities consider the blood trail irrelevant to
>the case.
>
>This will to ignore evidence in cases against former Black
>Panthers is nothing new. Former Panther Geronimo Ji Jaga
>Pratt recently settled his false imprisonment and civil-
>rights lawsuit against the FBI and the city of Los Angeles
>for $4.5 million. Activist, writer and former Black Panther
>Mumia Abu-Jamal is on Pennsylvania's death row for a crime
>he did not commit.
>
>Is the case against Al-Amin just another chapter in the
>long history of the government's attempt to annihilate
>revolutionary Black leaders?
>
>In the late 1960s, Al-Amin was known as H. Rap Brown,
>chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.
>It was during these turbulent times that Al-Amin emerged as
>a true leader in the fight against racism. His fiery
>rhetoric stirred the people and troubled the authorities.
>
>In July 1967, after a speech in Cambridge, Md., he was
>ambushed and shot by assailants he later came to learn were
>Black police officers. After the shooting, the crowd began
>to rebel. He was charged with inciting to riot.
>
>JOINED BLACK PANTHERS
>
>By 1968, he had joined the Black Panther Party, where he
>served briefly as minister of justice. The FBI treated the
>Black Panthers as "the most dangerous and violence-prone of
>all extremist groups" and used every oppressive weapon
>against them.
>
>He was eventually arrested and sent to prison. There he
>served five years.
>
>During the first year of his incarceration, the freedom
>fighter converted to Islam and changed his name to Jamil
>Abdullah Al-Amin. Released on parole in 1976, Al-Amin
>settled in Atlanta and began to build a Muslim community.
>
>So, did the government still think Al-Amin was a threat,
>or was he forgotten? On the 25th anniversary of the
>Cambridge rebellion, Al-Amin was interviewed for a local
>Washington paper. He spoke of the ongoing struggle for
>justice for Black people in the United States. He defined
>various movements in that struggle. Then he spoke of Islam.
>
>"In Islam, we're not talking about getting the poor to
>vote. We're not talking about empowering poor people with
>money. We're talking about overturning that whole thing,
>man."
>
>Those words appeared in 1992. If the government had
>forgotten about Al-Amin, his words may have served as a
>stark reminder. Al-Amin was a revolutionary. That same
>year, the FBI and Atlanta police began investigating Al-
>Amin in connection with everything from domestic terrorism
>to gunrunning to murder.
>
>In 1995, Al-Amin was charged in the shooting of a man in
>his neighborhood. After the victim revealed that he was
>coerced into naming Al-Amin as the shooter, all charges
>were dropped.
>
>The FBI investigation is said to have ended in February
>1996. Atlanta police say their investigation ended in
>August 1997. Despite the lengthy investigations by both
>agencies, no charges were ever filed against Al-Amin.
>
>For 25 years, Al-Amin has been considered a pillar of his
>community. These are the sentiments of those who know Al-
>Amin, those with whom he cleaned up his formerly drug-
>infested neighborhood in Atlanta. Throughout the nation,
>even the world, Al-Amin is Imam Al-Amin, a respected Muslim
>prayer leader.
>
>Years of government scrutiny failed to yield that
>information. The investigator saw Al-Amin's status in the
>community simply as a cover for criminal activities. To the
>government, Al-Amin is just another violent Black
>revolutionary with a target on his back. If, in seeking the
>death penalty against another Black revolutionary, the
>government looks to end a movement that they consider a
>threat, then they would do well to heed the words of Al-
>Amin.
>
>"Many times, people mistakenly identify movement as
>struggle. Movement is only a phase of struggle ... the
>struggle goes on."
>
> - 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)
>
>
>
>Message-ID: <002101bfbc71$77d223d0$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: [WW] U.S. assault on Vieques aimed at Puerto Rican nation
>Date: Fri, 12 May 2000 20:23:31 -0400
>Content-Type: text/plain;
> charset="iso-8859-1"
>Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
>
>-------------------------
>Via Workers World News Service
>Reprinted from the May 18, 2000
>issue of Workers World newspaper
>-------------------------
>
>U.S. ASSAULT ON VIEQUES AIMED AT PUERTO RICAN NATION
>
>By Monica Somocurcio
>
>In the early morning hours of May 4, U.S. Marshals and FBI
>agents--backed up by thousands of Marines stationed on two
>warships--brutally arrested and removed 216 peaceful
>protesters from Navy-controlled areas in Vieques, Puerto
>Rico.
>
>It was an act of blatant colonial aggression, certainly
>carried out under direct orders from U.S. President Bill
>Clinton. The world's most powerful military was deployed
>against unarmed civilians of a nation that has been under
>U.S. colonial rule since 1898.
>
>Who were the victims of this latest aggression? Puerto
>Rican civilians representing all sectors of the island's
>population had set up encampments to challenge the U.S.
>Navy's use of Vieques for military exercises.
>
>With guns in hand, hundreds of U.S. agents in riot gear
>forcibly evicted people from their own land.
>
>Among those detained were long-time nationalist leaders
>and former political prisoners Juan Cancel Miranda and
>Lolita Lebron, Puerto Rican Independence Party leader Rub�n
>Berr�os, Vieques leaders Robert Rabin and Ismael Guadalupe,
>and 42 religious leaders.
>
>Puerto Rican members of the U.S. Congress Nydia Velazquez
>and Luis Gutierrez were also detained, along with several
>other U.S. elected officials. Others detained included
>students, members of various unions, well-known artists and
>singers, and members of the community at large.
>
>While the Pentagon claimed that the "detentions" were not
>arrests, it threatened demonstrators with up to 10 years in
>prison and $250,000 in fines if they attempt to enter the
>training ground again.
>
>Many of the "detained" protesters were held on large ships
>under the hot sun and left there for hours without water,
>food or bathrooms. While on the ships they were searched
>and physically assaulted.
>
>Many of the demonstrators detained were elderly people,
>nuns and priests. Some were taken to makeshift detention
>camps where they were divided by sex and left for several
>hours under the sun.
>
>The arrests set off a storm of protests in Puerto Rico,
>the U.S. and around the world.
>
>Hundreds of students from the University of Puerto Rico
>clashed with police at the Fort Buchanan military base, the
>home of the Southern Army of the U.S. Southern Command. The
>May 4 demonstration was initiated by the Socialist Front.
>
>Another demonstration targeted the new federal courthouse
>in Old San Juan. In the south, Ponce students, faculty and
>telephone company workers rallied, chanting, "Down with
>imperialism!"
>
>And on May 5, thousands of electrical workers staged a
>four-hour strike to support the Vieques demonstrations. The
>colonial puppet Gov. Pedro Rossell� called out the National
>Guard to protect the electrical plants from damage. The
>troop deployment continues.
>
>In the United States, thousands of Puerto Ricans and
>supporters marched from New York's Times Square to the
>United Nations on May 5. Sixteen people were arrested in a
>militant protest at the Navy recruiting center in
>Philadelphia. Actions also took place in Washington,
>Boston, Chicago, Providence, R.I., Portland, Maine, and
>other cities.
>
>The next step in the mobilization in Puerto Rico is a
>major demonstration planned for May 13 in front of the gate
>of Camp Garcia in the civilian part of base. Constant
>surveillance and harassment by the riot police and the
>military has pushed forward determination to re-establish
>encampments in as yet undisclosed locations. These new
>encampments are expected to be set up at the May 13
>demonstration.
>
>UNITY AND FIERCE DETERMINATION
>
>Solidarity actions also took place in Seoul, south Korea,
>Barcelona, Spain, and Panama.
>
>Activists have been struggling to get the U.S. Navy out of
>Vieques for 60 years, since the training grounds were
>established. But that struggle took on new proportions in
>April 1999, when a stray Navy bomb killed Puerto Rican
>civilian David Sanes.
>
>The killing brought a new level of unity to the struggle
>against the U.S. Navy. Vieques community groups like the
>Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques were
>joined en masse by the Puerto Rican independence movement,
>the colonial Popular Democratic Party and churches of all
>denominations.
>
>That unity, combined with the Vieques residents' fierce
>determination and the people's encampments, stayed the hand
>of the Pentagon for 381 days.
>
>Under tremendous pressure from the Pentagon to proceed
>with the tests, in January Clinton announced a "compromise"
>agreement with Rossell�. A referendum would be held, giving
>Vieques residents a choice between an immediate resumption
>of bombardments or a three-year continuation of bombings
>with a vague commitment to withdraw in 2003.
>
>To sweeten the pot, the Pentagon offered $40 million to
>Vieques residents to resume the testing.
>
>Referendums are no new tactic in Puerto Rico. Washington
>periodically sponsors referendums and plebiscites to
>"consult" the Puerto Rican people about their colonial
>status. These cynical maneuvers give Washington's
>colonialism a veneer of honoring "self-determination."
>
>Puerto Rican activists have long maintained that there can
>be no real consultation of the Puerto Rican people while 13
>percent of the nation is occupied by the Pentagon, while
>U.S.-trained police harass, torture and murder independence
>activists, and while the island's economy is held hostage
>by U.S. corporations and government contracts.
>
>Self-determination for Puerto Rico can only be exercised
>completely free from intervention and occupation by the
>Pentagon and U.S. government.
>
>The Committee for the Rescue and Development of Vieques
>and other community and progressive groups have
>consistently rejected the Clinton-Rossell� referendum plan.
>They charge that the will of the Puerto Rican people has
>been shown consistently, including by a 200,000-strong
>February demonstration in San Juan--on an island of 4
>million people.
>
>Clearly, the people of Puerto Rico have said "no" to the
>Navy's presence in Vieques.
>
>NEW PHASE OF STRUGGLE
>
>The eviction of the people's encampments on Vieques marks
>a new phase of the struggle against the U.S. Navy
>occupation.
>
>On the one hand, activists have not given up the struggle
>for the training ground itself. Many of those detained on
>May 4, including Puerto Rican Independence Party leader
>Rub�n Berr�os, have vowed to return to the grounds and face
>imprisonment.
>
>Some activists have reportedly hidden out on the range,
>eluding capture by the U.S. troops and marshals. They are
>equipped with enough food and water to last three months.
>It is hoped that the Navy will not initiate any
>bombardments with civilians there.
>
>The main battle ahead, though, will not be just a battle
>for territory. It will be a battle for the consciousness of
>the Puerto Rican masses--in Vieques, on the big island of
>Puerto Rico and in cities across the United States.
>
>The struggle for Vieques comes on the heels of a series of
>mass campaigns by the Puerto Rican people. In 1996, some
>120,000 marched defiantly against Rossell�'s claim that
>"Puerto Rico is not a nation." In 1998, Puerto Rican
>workers shut down the island for two days in a general
>strike against selling off the state-owned phone company to
>the U.S. firm GTE.
>
>Last year, over 100,000 demanded the release of Puerto
>Rican political prisoners held in U.S. jails.
>
>In other words, what could have been simply a local
>struggle or a single-issue campaign is now part of a
>broader context of political struggles by the Puerto Rican
>people against the U.S. government. As Socialist Front
>leader Jorge Farinacci explained, "There is no longer a
>loving relationship between the people of Puerto Rico and
>the U.S. government."
>
>The Pentagon is vulnerable in Puerto Rico. The island is
>the base for the biggest part of the U.S. Southern Command-
>-the arm of the Pentagon responsible for interventions in
>Latin America and the Caribbean. With growing social
>upheaval in Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador, any threat to
>the stability of the Pentagon's rear base must be taken
>seriously.
>
>Already, there have been militant demonstrations at
>Pentagon sites on Puerto Rico itself. That is certainly
>what the Pentagon fears most--a generalized movement not
>just against one Naval training site, but against the whole
>Pentagon presence on the island.
>
>The clandestine Revolutionary Party of Puerto Rican
>Workers (Macheteros) announced that after the evictions,
>all forms of struggle would be employed--first to get the
>Navy out of Vieques, then out of Puerto Rico altogether.
>
>"International law gives us the right to use everything at
>our disposal to achieve victory against the invader," it
>announced in a May 4 communiqu�.
>
>In the United States, the latest U.S. aggression comes
>just one month ahead of the New York Puerto Rican Day
>parade, which draws up to 2 million people. New York has
>the greatest concentration of Puerto Ricans outside the
>island itself.
>
>This year, the parade is dedicated to the people of
>Vieques as well as to the founder of the modern
>independence movement, Don Pedro Albizu Campos. It could be
>the biggest show of defiance yet against the Pentagon's
>occupation of Vieques.
>
> - 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)
>
>
>
>Message-ID: <002701bfbc71$a3513dc0$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: [WW] More obstacles ahead before
>=?ISO-8859-1?Q?Eli=E1n_can_go_home=3F?=
>Date: Fri, 12 May 2000 20:24:44 -0400
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