----- Original Message ----- From: Claudia K White <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, June 09, 2000 9:52 PM Subject: [STOPNATO] Fwd: [MainLineNews] The Call for August 1 STOP NATO: NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.COM --------- Forwarded Message --------- DATE: Fri, 09 Jun 2000 14:50:39 From: "Ms. LiL Ladybugg" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] The Call for August 1 A Call for Non-Violent Direct Action AGAINST THE CRIMINAL INJUSTICE SYSTEM at the Republican National Convention Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - Tues., August 1, 2000 A new movement is being born. In Seattle we shut down the WTO. In New York we rose up against police terror in communities of color. In Washington, DC we stood up to the IMF and World Bank. In California we fought the mass incarceration of our youth under Proposition 21. This summer we will again use our bodies and voices to confront the system. While U.S.-dominated institutions like the WTO, the IMF, and World Bank wage war on the global poor, a parallel war is waged daily on the poor and people of color in the U.S. by a criminal justice system that enforces racial and economic injustice. It is time for the different currents in this movement to stand together against this system of criminal injustice and for real democracy. Democrats and Republicans alike have demonstrated their commitment to this state violence and repression. This August we are calling for direct action at the Republican National Convention to confront the U.S. criminal justice system, and we are supporting similar actions at the Democratic National Convention. The Republican and Democratic parties are both in the pockets of the corporate elite. The major corporations that profit from the policies of the WTO, IMF, and World Bank are the same corporations that oppress and exploit poor and working class people of all colors in the U.S. They are the same corporations that dominate the political process in the U.S. The Democratic and Republican national conventions try to hide this reality of corporate control behind a mask of democratic participation. Behind this mask the reality is brutal. As giant corporations move production abroad, the poorest laborers in this country have become expendable. Just as the policies of the IMF are backed up by U.S. military power, the attack on poor people and people of color in the United States depends on state repression in the form of police terror and of the prison warehousing of a huge percentage of poor people, particularly youth of color. This easily exploited source of labor is transforming Americans prisons into its worst sweatshops. Mandatory minimum sentences established under the guise of the "war on drugs" have turned prison construction into a growth industry while funding for schools is slashed year after year. The criminal justice system is a daily insult to democracy. Prisons silence thousands of voices from the most oppressed communities in the country. Dozens of political prisoners-like Leonard Peltier and the Puerto Rican independentistas still behind bars-are locked up for the crime of standing up to injustice. One political prisoner, Mumia Abu-Jamal, is a former Black Panther and an award-winning journalist who exposed the racism and brutality of the Philadelphia Police department. Brutalized by the police and denied a fair trial, Mumia has spent 18 years on Pennsylvanias death row. His case is in its most critical phase and demands our presence in the streets of Philadelphia. Now. Like the thousands of other prisoners on death row who face execution under the racist death penalty, Mumias case illustrates the barbarity of this system. Bill Clintons signing of the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act and George W. Bushs presiding over a record number of executions indicate the responsibility of both the Democrats and Republicans for these policies. This summer we have a historic opportunity to bring the energy that has been building for the past year to a collective fight, long overdue in this country, for democracy and human rights. We must build a powerful and sustainable alliance of all people devoted to global and domestic economic, racial, and environmental justice. Come to the Republican National Conventions to take a stand and say: 7 Free Mumia Abu Jamal and All Political Prisoners 7 Abolish the Prison Industrial Complex 7 Abolish the Death Penalty 7 Stop Police Violence 7 Power to Our Communities, End the Corporate War on the Poor Sponsored by: The August 1 Direct Action Coalition (list in formation): If you or your organization would like to endorse this call or participate in planning this action, please contact us at (212) 629-1775. The summer of 2000 will mark a critical point in the struggle for human rights and criminal justice in the U.S. Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge will host the nomination of Texas Governor George W. Bush for the next President of the United States. The "law and order" agenda of Bush promises an increase in racist and draconian criminal justice policies: racial profiling, rampant police violence and misconduct, prisoner abuse and exploitation, prison expansion and state and federal executions. Mumia Abu-Jamal, writer, revolutionary and victim of these same repressive policies is currently on death row in Pennsylvania fighting for his life. In the very near future it is expected that Federal District Judge William Yohn will decide if Mumia will receive an evidentiary hearing. This hearing will determine if the factual record in the case can be reopened. It is crucial that we demand that the evidence be heard AND that Mumia Abu-Jamal receive a new and fair trial. Therefore, the Civil Disobedience Committee of the NY Coalition to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal is calling for nonviolent DIRECT ACTION at the upcoming Republican National Convention in Philadelphia from July 29-August 4. The CD Committee organized the July 3, 1999 Liberty Bell action in Philadelphia and the February 28, 2000 Supreme Court action in Washington DC. To date over 500 people have been arrested in coordinated nonviolent civil disobedience initiated by the CD Committee. The February 28th action was the largest anti-death penalty civil disobedience in U.S. history. >From the onset, the CD Committee was determined to build an ongoing campaign of civil disobedience and direct action to win justice and freedom for Mumia. We come from a range of identities and experiences, philosophies and ideologies. Through the use of participatory democracy we formulated a working unity that has resulted in diverse and vibrant actions. We successfully broke the media blockade that has surrounded Mumias case for years, and sullied "business as usual." By risking arrest and placing ourselves in personal jeopardy, hundreds of people in this fast growing global movement have stated that we will not stand by silently while this racist system attempts to execute another human being. With each arrest our power soars. With each action our struggle escalates. Yet there is still a long way to go to save Mumias life and bring down the forces of repression. We must work hard to build a larger and more powerful movement. Main Line News Web Page: http://www.angelfire.com/ut/Angel1 Main Line News Classifieds http://www.angelfire.com/ut/MainLineClassifieds Subscription Info: http://www.egroups.com/group/MainLineNews -------- End Forwarded Message --------- --- Claudia White~Main Line News~Human & Civil Rights Campaign Internationale' Free Mumia Abu Jamal~Free All Political Prisoners~End the Drug War! Stop the US Bombing of Vieques & use of depleted uranium! to subscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Pray for the Dine'h and traditional Hopi at Big Mountain, AZ, USA. http://members.xoom.com/senaa ..................................... UN draft declaration on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, Article 10: "Indigenous Peoples shall not be forcibly removed from their lands or territories. No relocations shall take place without the free and in- formed consent of the Indigenous Peoples concerned ....(...)........." >See the video "Vanishing Prayers" at: http://www.freespeech.org/senaa< ------------------------------------------------------------------------ --------- End Forwarded Message --------- Angelfire for your free web-based e-mail. http://www.angelfire.com ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ______________________________________________________________________ Start Your Own FREE Email List at http://www.listbot.com
