> >FBI documents, later brought to light under the Freedom of Information Act, >showed that bureau agents had regularly supplied intelligence reports on >the progress of the Freedom Riders to two members of the Birmingham Police >Department known to be leading Klan members. > >Rowe, described by Hoover as the best undercover agent "we've ever seen," >also admitted that he shot and killed an unidentified black man in a riot >in Birmingham in 1963. He said federal authorities subsequently told him to >keep quiet about the killing. > >Rowe's superior in the Klan was Robert E. Chambliss. For years, charges >circulated that Rowe had failed a lie detector test about his involvement >in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing. If Rowe did not directly >participate in the bombing, it is likely that he was aware that a violent >attack was about to take place and so informed his FBI handlers, who did >nothing to prevent it. Within days of the bombing, the FBI was already >questioning Cherry and other participants about their whereabouts the night >the bomb was planted. > >Rowe was also involved in the March 1965 murder of Viola Liuzzo, the >39-year-old wife of a Detroit Teamsters official and mother of four, who >traveled to Alabama to help in the Selma-to-Montgomery civil rights march. >Rowe admitted to being in the car with three other men when they pulled >alongside Liuzzo's car and opened fire on the unarmed woman, but he >asserted that he only pretended to shoot. > >The first trial of the three killers named by Rowe ended in a hung jury; >the second in acquittal. The three Klansmen were eventually convicted on >charges of violating Liuzzo's civil rights. They were each sentenced to 10 >years in prison. > >A lawsuit filed by the Liuzzo family forced the FBI to release documents in >1978 exposing attempts by FBI director Hoover to suppress the investigation >into the Liuzzo killing. In the aftermath of the murder, the FBI tried to >discredit the murdered woman, circulating stories that she was a drug user, >had mental problems, was unfaithful to her husband and was "necking" with a >black man at the time of her death. > >The Justice Department admitted in 1980 that the FBI had known about and >covered up Rowe's participation in violent attacks on blacks. However, the >department claimed it found no evidence of Rowe's connection to the >Birmingham bombing or any other killings. > >The FBI also obstructed the efforts of Alabama Attorney General Bill Baxley >to re-open the case in early 1971. Baxley's investigators reportedly spent >years tracking down the wrong people because the FBI did not release its >files on the case until late 1975. > >Fourteen years after the bombing, Chambliss was finally convicted on state >murder charges after the jury heard his niece testify that she saw him with >dynamite before the bombing and heard him say, "Wait until Sunday and >they'll beg to be segregated." The jury sentenced Chambliss to life in >prison, where he died eight years later in 1985. > >The fourth man identified in early FBI case files, Herman Cash, died in >1994, without ever being charged. Until this week, however, there have been >no other charges in the case. > >In 1996, the FBI officially reopened the investigation. The current case >will be tried in state courts because federal officials say jurisdictional >and statute of limitations issues would hinder the pursuit of a federal >case. Bobby Frank Cherry's lawyers have claimed that the US Attorney in >Alabama offered the defendant a light sentence in exchange for a guilty >plea on federal charges of interstate transportation of dynamite. > >Over the past year, Cherry's granddaughter and ex-wife have appeared before >a federal grand jury, and have said publicly that he talked of helping >plant the dynamite. > >While Cherry has acknowledged his past membership in the Klan, he has >maintained that he was home watching wrestling on television the night the >bomb was planted. Last July the Jackson, Mississippi-based Clarion-Ledger >reported records from the Birmingham News showing that no wrestling >appeared on television on the night of September 14, 1963. > >The newspaper also reported that a lie detector test given to Cherry by the >FBI concluded that he showed "evidence of deception" when asked if he was >present when the bombing was planned and showed reaction to the question, >"Did you bomb the 16th Street Baptist Church?" > >Blanton, who also claims he is innocent, has written for support to >right-wing Congressman Bob Barr, the Georgia Republican who has spoken at >meetings of the Council of Conservative Citizens, an organization that >views interracial marriage as "white genocide." > >The killings of the four girls are among 18 slayings from the South's civil >rights era reinvestigated since 1989. So far there have been 11 arrests, >six convictions, one acquittal and one mistrial. The prosecutions are the >result of testimony from witnesses who have come forward after many years, >as changing racial attitudes and demographics have made it easier to >impanel jurors willing to convict whites for the murders of blacks. > >In 1994, Byron de la Beckwith, who had been tried twice in state trials >that ended in hung juries, was convicted of the 1963 assassination of NAACP >field organizer Medgar Evers. In August 1998, former KKK imperial wizard >Samuel H. Powers, 73, was convicted in the 1966 murder of Mississippi NAACP >leader Vernon Dahmer, who was killed when his home was firebombed. > >A federal grand jury in Jackson, Mississippi is examining the 1966 killing >of Ben Chester White and officials in that state are now reopening the >investigation into the 1964 murders of three civil rights workers--Andrew >Goodman, James Chaney and Michael Schwerner. > >Commenting on this week's indictments, Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, now a >pastor in Cincinnati, said charges should have been brought long ago. "The >FBI, they knew back then what they know now," he said. > >Copyright 1998-2000 World Socialist Web Site. All rights reserved. > >***** >________________________________________________________________________ > >MEXICO APPEALS FOR UN HELP IN HALTING US RANCH POSSES SPORT HUNTING OF >MIGRANTS >________________________________________________________________________ > >THE INDEPENDENT >World News: Americas >Saturday, 20 May 2000 >http://www.independent.co.uk >by Jan McGirk > >The Mexican government has appealed to the United Nations to help stop the >shootings ofmigrants by vigilante "posses" - believed to include members of >the Ku Klux Klan - in the Wild West country along its border with the >United States. > >At least two Mexicans have been killed, and seven wounded by gangs >patrolling the arid badlands of Arizona's Cochise County to round up >migrants searching for more prosperous lives. Some ranchers have declared >publicly that they are "hunting" the Mexicans "for sport". > >This week, at bilateral talks in Washington, the Mexican Foreign Minister, >Rosario Green, described the shootings as "brutal displays of xenophobia". >She urged the US Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, to take whatever >steps were necessary to curb the actions of renegade ranchers and their >hired hands - armed with night-vision goggles and high-powered rifles. > >In addition, an American law firm has been hired by the Mexican >authorities. If it can build criminal cases of aggravated assault, illegal >detention, and human rights abuse against these vigilantes, lawsuits may >follow. > >"Let's keep out this refuse from the Narco-State next door," a supporter of >the Arizona posses posted on the internet this week. > >Irate local ranchers, led by the Barnett Boys of Sierra Vista, insist on >searching suspicious vans and pickups on the public highway, despite having >no authority to do so. > >The ranchers track Mexicans with hounds, demand to see their non-existent >identification papers and then radio their whereabouts to the Border >Patrol. "Most of these encounters go unreported by the aliens. Some can't >be bothered, they don't even know their rights. All they want is to get >across," explains Ray Borane, the mayor of Douglas, Arizona. > >Considering that there are only 20,000 residents in his entire town, the >Arizona border patrol's monthly interception of 22,000 illegal immigrants >is striking. The numbers have grown exponentially since border security was >bolstered in nearby Nogales, where the road leads straight to urban Tucson. > >And with California and Texas tightening up, too, there is nowhere else for >the migrants to go. > >If forced back, most migrants will risk another run, perhaps hiring a guide >who promises to avoid all checkpoints. Their new route runs through >rattlesnake-ridden scrubland up towards the old Tombstone Territory, >tracing the clandestine pathways once used by revolutionaries like Pancho >Villa. > >Overzealous gringos with itchy trigger fingers are a new hazard in the >sagebrush. > >The latest shooting victim, Miguel Angel Palafox, 20, told Mexican >authorities that two Americans on horseback confronted him while he was >walking about three kilometres into United States territory near El Sasabe. > >"One of the ranchers fired two shots and he immediately fell to the >ground," said Miguel Angel Cortes, the general prosecutor of Sonora, the >Mexican state opposite Arizona. "His state of health is grave. The bullet >entered the back of his neck and exited somewhere near his ear." > >The wounded youth staggered back across the border, and was taken to a >hospital in Caborca, Mexico. There was no sign of five others who were with >him on his second attempt to cross the frontier. > >Flyers circulating in Cochise County, blatantly advertise for tourists to >join in the hunt. "It is demeaning to treat this as recreation," Mayor >Borane fumes. "We don't want to be fillin' up with militia types." > >It may already be too late. Defiant Arizona ranchers invited members of the >California Coalition for Immigration Reform to a rally last Saturday. >Ignacio Ibarra, a local reporter, spotted several Ku Klux Klan members >milling in the audience of over 250 people that - Roger Barnett's >22,000-acre cattle ranch. > >"When my brother bought his ranch five years ago, it was pristine," Don >Barnett said wistfully. "You could ride a horse along a mountain crest, or >pick up arrowheads. Now it's a garbage pit. There's plastic, tin cans, and >shit everywhere you look. Old blankets, cut hoses, cut fences. You name it, >illegals'll do it." > >Barbara Coe, an anti-immigration lobbyist from California, blamed >government apathy for forcing the Barnett brothers to "defend our borders >and defend themselves from the illegal alien savages." > >But neighbour Ed Wagner, boycotted the rally. "As a Hispanic and resident >of Cochise County, I believe that the importation of racists from other >parts of the country to deal with our national problem is only adding to a >problem that is reaching a boiling point." > >Copyright 2000 Independent Newspapers plc. >Courtesy of an AFIB subscriber. > >***** >____________________________________________________________________ > >FBI UNDERMINED PUERTO RICAN INDEPENDENCE EFFORTS >____________________________________________________________________ > >AGENCIA EFE >Thursday, May 18, 2000 > >WASHINGTON -- The FBI began releasing close to one million documents on >Wednesday which confirm activities to undermine the Puerto Rican >independence movement and other political sectors. > >FBI Director Louis Freeh authorized the release of the documents to Rep. >Jose Serrano (D-NY) and to the Puerto Rican Senate, which sent a delegation >of four legislators to meet with the Bureau's chief. > >"Louis Freeh affirmed his desire to close this sad portion of FBI history," >said Serrano, who is originally from Puerto Rico and who solicited the >information from the U.S. government so it could be handed over to the >Puerto Rican Senate. > >The Puerto Rican Senate's Commission on Federal Issues is investigating the >participation of federal authorities in falsifying files and persecuting >citizens for their political beliefs. > >The president of the Puerto Rican Senate, Charlie Rodriguez, and Senators >Kenneth McClintock, Eduardo Bhatia and Manuel Rodriguez Orellana were >present at the meeting with Freeh and Serrano, which took place in the New >York congressman's office. > >Freeh provided four boxes full of documents, including reports on public >demonstrations by independence groups, as well as the Independence, >Nationalist and Socialist parties and political leaders, including >Nationalist leader Pedro Albizu Campos. > >The FBI director told the senators that not all of the information is new. >Several documents, made public in 1977, deal with the 1960'S COINTELPRO >counterintelligence operation. > >Many of the previously released documents, however, contain "99 percent >additional information," since most of the details that had been previously >crossed out are included, Freeh said. > >One of the reports reveals a conspiracy by former Dominican dictator Rafael >Leonides Trujillo to assassinate Cuban President Fidel Castro, Venezuelan >President Romulo Betancourt and Puerto Rican leader Luis Munoz Marin. > >According to Charlie Rodriguez, Freeh stressed that "this is a new FBI" >that wants to leave behind former tactics of persecuting citizens for their >political beliefs. > >The FBI director could leave his post this year, but he told the Puerto >Rican senators that a special team of 17 agents has been created to compile >the documents dealing with the persecution of Puerto Rican independence >leaders. > >"Our investigations are much easier now," said Sen. McClintock, of the >ruling New Progressive Party of Puerto Rico. > >Sen. Manuel Rodriguez Orellana, of the Independence Party, told Freeh that >the FBI must guarantee that such persecutions and human and civil rights >violations "are not being carried out by new means, other than COINTELPRO." > >"I told him I was speaking for the living and deceased who have been >persecuted by the FBI in Puerto Rico," said Rodriguez Orellana, who >initially proposed the investigation. > >The FBI should also release specific information, such as the names of >informants, he added. > >Sen. Eduardo Bhatia, of the Popular Party, said Freeh is finally admitting >to a persecution that has been denounced for years, adding, "It has been an >important and historic meeting." > >Courtesy of The Grassroots Media Network; 1602 Chatham; Austin, TX 78723; >E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Web: http://www.crosswinds.net/~rootmedia/ > >***** >____________________________________________________________________ > >MOTHER'S LOSS AND MOTHER'S LOVE >____________________________________________________________________ > >By Mumia Abu-Jamal >Column Written 5/12/2000 >Source: Mark Clement, [EMAIL PROTECTED] >- Friday, 19 May 2000 - > >"Don't mourn, Organize!" - Joe Hill, labor leader > >She is a wife, a mother, and a scholar. > >The proud descendant of slaves and rebels, born into a nation that bellows >to the entire world about its respect for human rights, while denying to >millions of its so-called "citizens" the simple right to walk down a city >street, to drive a car, or to stand on their doorsteps. Perhaps this >brilliant historian thought that the dawning of a new century was a >harbinger of better things to come. > >January, 2000. > >Millions were gripped by anxiety and anticipation of a great and horrific >event striking mankind. It passes, as have most Januarys, relatively >quietly, even placidly, despite the fears. But, not for her. > >For this Mother of a son whose face reflects the ancient streams of Africa, >the apocalypse became bitter reality. > >January of 2000 marked the month that her son, Erin, was shot to death by 5 >armed cops in Lower Merion, Pennsylvania, just outside of Philadelphia. His >crime? He was a Black man, in a car; Driving While Black, and unarmed. > >Ella Forbes, a distinguished scholar of African-American Studies, wrote a >book about a little known piece of African-American history, at least in >this age. When the event happened, it rocked the English-speaking world, >and generated headlines in every major American city. She wrote of the 1851 >Christiana, Pennsylvania Resistance, when William Parker, his wife, and a >small group of escaped captives refused to allow themselves to be taken >back into bondage after the passing of the ignoble Fugitive Slave Act of >1850. > >They fought the legalized Southern kidnappers, and their U.S. Government >allies in kidnapping, with guns, with machetes, and with everything they >could lay their hands on for their freedom, and beat them. Most of the >leaders of the Resistance had to leave the United States, and most made >their way to a greater degree of freedom, in Canada. > >Mrs. Forbes' But We Have No Country: The 1851 Christiana Pennsylvania >Resistance (Cherry Hill, N.J.: Africana Legacy, 1998) is a remarkable >salvaging of the once-lost voice of a brave, Black rebel, William Parker, >as well as many of his contemporaries. She also talks to the descendants of >the rebel families, many in both Canada and the U.S. > >What she finds, however, is that some of the descendants of these rebels >and freedom fighters have little or no knowledge of their brave, and >resourceful ancestors. > >What she found, in some families, was a history, lost and forgotten. > >Perhaps that is why she does not forget. > >She is a member of a newly emerging group, Mothers Organized Against Police >Terror. Please take a moment to re-read the name of this group of mothers, >and other relatives of people murdered by agents of the state.... I repeat: >MOTHERS ORGANIZED AGAINST POLICE TERROR! Because that's what it is, isn't >it? > >Talk to the mothers of Amadou Diallo, Gidone Busch, Tyesha Miller, Johnny >Gamage, Donte Dawson, .... the names, of men, women, and children, >slaughtered by cops in America could fill this page. Was this police >"brutality?" Hardly. This was Police Terror! Period. Straight - no chaser. >And Erin's mom is calling on others who have seen this vile, true face of >America, to join her, and build a movement for a real change. > >As this is being written, this small fledgling group has not yet held its >first march (set for the anniversary of the Police Murders and Massacres of >MOVE, on May 13th) but it's a fair bet that you haven't seen it anywhere in >the American corporationist media. They have granted Most Favored >Demonstration Status to the Moms marching about guns (pro and con), but >what about the Moms who marched about the cops that used their guns to kill >their kids? Silence. "What march? Oh, we were short-handed that >weekend-everybody was in Washington, D.C." -blah, blah... If your child or >loved one was murdered by a killer cop, please feel free to contact the >Mothers Organized Against Police Terror, P.O. Box 77, Lincoln University, >Lincoln, PA 19352. Or call: 610-932-5798. > >Police Terror isn't just some distant, foreign reality that occurs in >blighted Third World nations in Latin America, or Asia. It happens right >here in the United States. Mrs. Forbes, an historian, knows this all too >well. So do the other Mothers who have begun to organize! > >Copyright 2000 Mumia Abu-Jamal. All rights reserved. > >** NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, material >appearing in Antifa Info-Bulletin is distributed without charge or profit >to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information >for research and educational purposes. Submissions are welcome. ** > >* * * > >ANTIFA INFO-BULLETIN (AFIB) >750 La Playa # 730 >San Francisco, California 94121 >To subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >To unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Inquiries write: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Via the Web --> http://burn.ucsd.edu/~aff/afib.html >Archive --> http://burn.ucsd.edu/~aff/afib-bulletins.html > >ANTI-FASCIST FORUM (AFF) >Antifa Info-Bulletin is a member of the Anti-Fascist Forum network. AFF is >an info-group which collects and disseminates information, research and >analysis on fascist activity and anti-fascist resistance. More info: >E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Web: http://burn.ucsd.edu/~aff > >Order our journal, ANTIFA FORUM, cutting-edge anti-fascist research and >analysis! 4 issues, $20. Write AFF, P.O. Box 6326, Station A, Toronto, >Ontario, M5W 1P7 Canada > >++++ stop the execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal ++++ >++++ if you agree copy these 3 sentences in your own sig ++++ >++++ see: http://www.xs4all.nl/~tank/spg-l/sigaction.htm ++++ > > >___________________________________________________________ >T O P I C A The Email You Want. http://www.topica.com/t/16 >Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Your Favorite Topics > > > __________________________________ 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] ___________________________________
