>Local 509 Field Representative Judith Davis said: "This
>firing is a knee-jerk reaction by the commissioner. We are
>calling for Margot and Julie's reinstatement."
>
>The union has filed a grievance and plans to begin
>arbitration soon.
>
>In February the AIDS Action Committee--one of the biggest
>AIDS agencies in New England--presented Netherland and
>Abels with awards in recognition of their school-based HIV
>education work.
>
>MEDIA BACK ANTI-GAY BIGOTS
>
>Sources in the Education Department said the tape was made
>at the "Healthy Sexuality" workshop. It was supposed to be
>anonymous and allow young people a confidential and safe
>space to ask questions. But when a few adults asked to sit
>in on the session, the youths voted to let them stay.
>
>One of those adults was Brian Cammeker, executive director
>of the right-wing group Parents' Rights Coalition, which
>opposes sex education in schools. Cammeker secretly taped
>the workshop. A carefully edited version was then sent to
>the media.
>
>For weeks the Boston big-business media played excerpts of
>the tape containing explicit sexual language. The Parents'
>Rights Coalition used the attention to whip up anti-gay
>bigotry and accused the Education Department of misusing
>taxpayer funds. The group launched attacks on the
>gay/straight student alliances in public high schools as
>well as the Safe Schools programs for lesbian, gay, bi and
>trans youths.
>
>Even though the conference's sponsor, the Gay, Lesbian and
>Straight Education Network, is privately funded, Driscoll
>caved in to the right-wing attack. Driscoll ended the
>Education Department's contract with the Department of
>Health's HIV/AIDS Awareness Program. He fired Abels and
>forced Netherland to resign.
>
>COMMUNITY FIGHTS BACK
>
>A recent national study sponsored by the Centers for
>Disease Control showed that 50 percent of people newly
>diagnosed with HIV--the virus that causes AIDS--are under
>age 25. This alarming statistic and the threatened budget
>cuts for youth-related AIDS programming has launched the
>lesbian, gay, bi and trans community and AIDS activists
>into motion.
>
>Earlier this year, a coalition of organizations in Boston,
>including Men of Color Against AIDS, the Massachusetts
>Asian AIDS Project, and Parents and Friends of Lesbians and
>Gays, successfully mobilized and stopped Gov. Paul Cellucci
>from cutting the state's budget for youth AIDS prevention.
>
>Amy Rosenberg, senior public policy and legal specialist
>for the AIDS Action Committee, spoke to Workers World about
>the firings. She said, "This sends a message . for those of
>us who work with young people in community-based
>organizations that we must push to make sure the Cellucci
>administration keeps HIV prevention in the public schools."
>
>Labor and lesbian, gay, bi and trans activists will be
>mobilizing to continue the struggle for the two workers'
>reinstatement at the Boston Pride march June10.
>
>[Imani Henry has been a provider of HIV-related services to
>lesbian, gay, bi and trans youths for the last seven
>years.]
>
> - 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: <02af01bfd3b2$c3548980$0a00a8c0@home>
>From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: [WW] Campaign to free Leonard Peltier
>Date: Sun, 11 Jun 2000 10:38:51 -0400
>Content-Type: text/plain;
> charset="iso-8859-1"
>Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
>
>-------------------------
>Via Workers World News Service
>Reprinted from the June 15, 2000
>issue of Workers World newspaper
>-------------------------
>
>CAMPAIGN TO FREE POLITICAL PRISONER SAYS:
>"CLINTON, PAROLE BOARD, FREE PELTIER"
>
>On June 12, the Federal Parole Commission will meet in
>Leavenworth, Kan., "to determine whether there are any
>circumstances that warrant a change" in the commission's
>1993 decision to keep Native political prisoner Leonard
>Peltier behind bars.
>
>Peltier's lawyers, family and supporters will argue for
>his immediate release. They say the American Indian
>Movement warrior has spent almost a quarter century
>wrongfully imprisoned for the murder of two FBI agents. The
>agents died during a shoot-out at South Dakota's Pine Ridge
>Reservation.
>
>Among those speaking for Peltier are former U.S. Attorney
>General Ramsey Clark, Amnesty International USA Director
>Curt Goering, the National Congress of American Indians,
>Assembly of First Nations and the National Council of
>Churches.
>
>The Parole Commission has said it "recognizes that the
>prosecution has conceded the lack of any evidence that
>[Peltier] personally participated in the executions of the
>two FBI agents." But the FBI is mounting a big propaganda
>blitz to keep Peltier in prison. It has taken out full-page
>ads in major newspapers.
>
>The LPDC urges supporters to call the White House.
>President Clinton can put pressure on the Parole Commission
>to do the right thing--or he can grant Peltier clemency
>himself. Call (202) 456-1111 to demand freedom for Leonard
>Peltier.
>--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)
>
>
>
>Message-ID: <02b501bfd3b2$de0b86c0$0a00a8c0@home>
>From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: [WW] Racist lynchings in Texas & Arizona
>Date: Sun, 11 Jun 2000 10:39:36 -0400
>Content-Type: text/plain;
> charset="iso-8859-1"
>Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
>
>-------------------------
>Via Workers World News Service
>Reprinted from the June 15, 2000
>issue of Workers World newspaper
>-------------------------
>
>RACIST LYNCHINGS IN TEXAS & ARIZONA:
>VIGILANTES REVEAL REAL U.S. POLICY ON IMMIGRATION
>
>By Gery Armsby
>
>Ranchers in Texas and Arizona, armed with an array of
>high-tech paramilitary equipment, have shot and killed at
>least two and as many as seven unarmed workers from Mexico
>since November 1999. They have illegally entrapped and
>forcibly detained dozens more at gunpoint, turning them
>over to "La Migra" or the Border Patrol.
>
>The latest shootings, in May, were followed by a racist
>rally in Sierra Vista, Ariz. The ranchers and other anti-
>immigrant groups, like American Patrol from California and
>white supremacists from an Arizona Ku Klux Klan chapter,
>along with sheriffs and cops from several counties,
>assembled May 20. They shared reaction ary literature and
>spelled out their campaign of violence against undocumented
>workers.
>
>Their proposed plans include laying mines and trip wires
>and recruiting others to come to the area to "help protect
>U.S. sovereignty" by hunting down immigrants.
>
>Anti-racist and border-rights activists answered this
>dangerous, lynch-mob-type rally with a militant protest
>held simultaneously in Nogales, Ariz., and Nogales, Sonora
>on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border.
>
>A vigil and speak-out was held June 2 in Tucson. Over 300
>people came out to express their concern about the racist
>ranchers and mounting problems on the border.
>
>Maritza Broce, an organizer for the Southern Arizona
>Peoples Law Center in Tucson, told Workers World: "The U.S.
>Border Patrol has made conditions very difficult for
>undocumented workers determined to come into the U.S. Many
>are dying in the terrible heat. It's awful, and people here
>are very worried about them.
>
>"Part of why we wanted to have this meeting was to
>demonstrate that most people want to show support to the
>undocumented workers. In fact, we know that it is the
>policies of NAFTA that created the economic basis in Mexico
>for the high numbers of border crossings--not drug
>smugglers, like [the press] says."
>
>Ranchers claim they "have a right to defend their land."
>But it's not their land. Much of the borderland in question
>is public land leased to the ranchers.
>
>And it is really occupied Mexican soil stolen by the
>United States in the 1853 Gadsden Purchase, an agreement
>that the Mexican government was bullied into without an
>opportunity to consult the Native people and other
>inhabitants. The resulting Arizona-Mexico border slashed
>the land of the Tohono O'odham people in two.
>
>Copper mining bosses steadily increased their dominance in
>the region and drove many Chicano, Mexicano and Native
>people elsewhere.
>
>So when white ranch owners assert their vigilante reign in
>the border territory, it's an arrogant and racist claim.
>But it's not just the ranchers.
>
>While two ranchers are being prosecuted in Texas for
>murder, not one U.S. Border Patrol agent or government
>officer has been charged with wrongdoing in dozens of cases
>where undocumented people have been killed by Immigration
>and Naturalization Service and U.S. military personnel.
>
> - 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: <02c001bfd3b3$34f76b20$0a00a8c0@home>
>From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: [WW] Hague tribunal denounced for exonerating NATO war criminals
>Date: Sun, 11 Jun 2000 10:42:02 -0400
>Content-Type: text/plain;
> charset="iso-8859-1"
>Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
>
>-------------------------
>Via Workers World News Service
>Reprinted from the June 15, 2000
>issue of Workers World newspaper
>-------------------------
>
>HAGUE TRIBUNAL DENOUNCED FOR EXONERATING
>NATO WAR CRIMINALS
>
>By John Catalinotto
>
>Anti-war organizations and individuals around the world
>reacted in indignation to the announcement June 2 that the
>International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia
>was exonerating NATO of all charges of war crimes committed
>against Yugoslavia.
>
>Carla Del Ponte, chief prosecutor for the tribunal at The
>Hague, said that the court had examined charges brought
>against NATO by various forces. She said that after
>considerable study the court decided there was no reason to
>pursue any of these charges.
>
>Lawyers' groups in Canada, Russia, Greece, France,
>Yugoslavia and the United States had brought charges before
>the court. Charges included the use of cluster bombs and
>depleted uranium weapons, as well as dropping bombs on
>civilian targets. The civilian targets included the Serb
>television station, the Chinese Embassy, a train crossing a
>bridge and a convoy of refugees in Kosovo--most of which
>have been reported in the mainstream media.
>
>International Action Center co-director Sara Flounders
>said Del Ponte's announcement shows that "a people's court
>has to bring charges against U.S. and NATO leaders if we
>want to preserve the truth of this war for history."
>
>The IAC initiated such a people's tribunal on July 31,
>1999, and will hold its final hearing this June 10 in New
>York. Flounders said anti-war activists, elected
>representatives and prominent personalities from 18 nations
>will participate in the International Tribunal on U.S./NATO
>War Crimes against Yugoslavia.
>
>Flounders noted that "Del Ponte made her announcement just
>as people's tribunals were taking place in Rome and Berlin
>that were finding NATO leaders guilty of war crimes. And we
>were preparing our final tribunal for the following week.
>In the Netherlands, lawyers are bringing charges against
>government leaders on June 9.
>
>"There is no doubt U.S. and NATO leaders planned the
>aggressive war against Yugoslavia over a long period, that
>they purposely bombed civilian targets, and that they used
>weapons illegal under international treaties. And there is
>no doubt Del Ponte was told to make this announcement now
>in an attempt to counter the success of these people's
>tribunals in bringing U.S./NATO crimes to the light of
>day," charged Flounders.
>
>"We note that the article in the June 3 New York Times on
>Del Ponte's announcement described the lawyers who brought
>charges to the ICTFY court as `paid by Yugoslavia.' We know
>for a fact that the lawyers in many different countries--
>including Canada, France, Russia and Greece--do their work
>out of their personal conviction. They often do this at
>great personal sacrifice, and they have succeeded in
>exposing the ICTFY as a corrupt court in the pay of the
>U.S. and other NATO powers."
>
>`A CORRUPT TRIBUNAL IS WORSE THAN NONE AT ALL'
>
>Workers World spoke with Prof. Michael Mandel, one of a
>group of Canadian attorneys who had brought charges to the
>ICTFY court.
>
>Mandel said that Del Ponte's decision was no surprise to
>him, and that his group had denounced the tribunal as a
>farce and a disgrace in March.
>
>"The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former
>Yugoslavia is a corrupt institution," said Mandel. "It
>declared its own corruption with the announcement by the
>prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte, that she is completely
>satisfied that NATO did not commit war crimes in Yugoslavia
>and for that reason is not going to open an inquiry.
>
>"You might want to ask how she became satisfied of their
>innocence without an inquiry.
>
>"NATO committed every crime from mass murder on down in
>front of the world and it confessed its guilt in every
>press conference of Jamie Shea," said Mandel.
>
>"A corrupt tribunal is worse than no tribunal at all. This
>one should be shut down and Del Ponte fired, to find work
>in some other department of the Pentagon," said Mandel. He
>noted that the first prosecutor of the tribunal, Canadian
>Louise Arbour, was rewarded with a life appointment to the
>Supreme Court of Canada by Premier Jean Chretien.
>
>In Italy, former senator and religious philosopher Raniero
>La Valle denounced the ICTFY as a "victor's tribunal" that
>was set up specifically to persecute the Milosevic
>government in Yugoslavia. La Valle said that "it is
>important that justice be found also outside of its
>traditional seats and be proclaimed before the tribunal of
>public opinion." He was referring specifically to the
>tribunals to be held June 3 in Rome and June 10 in the U.S.
>inspired by former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark.
>
>La Valle will participate at the June 10 tribunal in New
>York, which will take place from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the
>Martin Luther King High School Auditorium at 66th Street
>and Amsterdam Ave. in Manhattan. The doors open at 10 a.m.
>
> - 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)
>
>
>
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