>Nine student groups from local colleges and universities
>marched. They included gay-straight alliances from New York
>University and Pace University.
>
>HIV/AIDS activists carried signs slamming the U.S.
>government and drug corporations for their profit lust.
>They blamed millions of AIDS-related deaths around the
>world on exhorbitantly priced treatments designed more to
>line the pockets of the pharmaceutical barons than to save
>lives.
>
>Activists from Rainbow Flags for Mumia had a militant
>contingent in the parade, joined by Workers World Party,
>which has marched every year since 1971. The group chanted:
>"They're killing our people by the hour--what do we do?
>Fight the power."
>
>Members of the contingent also carried banners honoring
>Shaka Sankofa (Gary Graham) who was murdered by the state
>of Texas just days before. Nine of the marchers in the
>Rainbow Flags for Mumia contingent had been arrested
>earlier in the week during actions to prevent Gov. George
>Bush from executing Sankofa.
>
>Labor groups representing lesbian, gay, bi and trans
>workers turned out in force. There were contingents from
>the Lesbian and Gay Teachers' Association, AFSCME District
>Council 37's Lesbian and Gay Issues Committee, the National
>Lesbian and Gay Nurses Association, and Pride At Work, the
>official AFL-CIO lesbian/gay/ bi/ trans constituency group,
>among others.
>
>The parade, which started at noon, lasted until well after
>6 p.m. It culminated at Sheridan Square, site of the
>Stonewall bar where the gay and trans rebellion erupted
>over 30 years ago.
>
>Among other contingents that marched were a group of
>veterans of the Stonewall rebellion, a delegation from the
>Lesbian Herstory Archives, the National Organization for
>Women, ACT UP, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force,
>Metropolitan Gender Network, Lesbian and Gay Immigration
>Rights Task Force, www.stopdrlaura.com, and many, many
>others.
>
> - 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: <003e01bfe390$473ae0e0$0a00a8c0@home>
>From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: [WW] San Francisco: Out and against the death penalty
>Date: Sat, 1 Jul 2000 15:12:19 -0400
>Content-Type: text/plain;
> charset="iso-8859-1"
>Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
>
>-------------------------
>Via Workers World News Service
>Reprinted from the July 6, 2000
>issue of Workers World newspaper
>-------------------------
>
>SAN FRANCISCO: OUT AND AGAINST THE DEATH PENALTY
>
>By Brenda Sandburg
>San Francisco
>
>Thousands of people cheered in support as the Rainbow
>Flags for Mumia contingent marched in San Francisco's
>Lesbian/Gay/ Bi/Trans Pride Parade on June 25.
>
>Chanting, "We're here, we're queer, we're fighting for
>Mumia," and, "Hey hey, ho ho, the death penalty has got to
>go," the contingent reached the estimated 750,000 people
>lining the parade route. Workers World Party, Lesbians and
>Gays Against Intervention, and the Zapatista Support
>Committee marched together in the contingent.
>
>San Francisco's 30th annual Pride Parade also had a strong
>youth presence. The Lavender Youth Recreation and
>Information Center and the Bay Area Gay-Straight Alliance
>Network were among the 211 contingents. Other groups
>included Pride at Work, Bay Area American Indian Two
>Spirits, Malaysian Gay and Lesbian Club and the National
>Gay Pilots Association.
>
>Comedian Margaret Cho was the celebrity grand marshal. She
>was joined by Grand Marshals Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon,
>who helped found the Daughters of Bilitis, the first
>lesbian organization in the country, and San Francisco
>Board of Supervisors President Tom Ammiano.
>
>LESBIANS MARCH
>
>One of the most powerful and exuberant activities of
>lesbian/gay/bi/trans pride week was the Dyke March on June
>24. Some 50,000 women marched from Dolores Park to the
>Castro district, cheering, drumming, and whistling. Dozens
>of women on motorcycles from the group "Dykes on Bikes" led
>the march, greeted with wild applause of appreciation.
>
>The flatbed truck in front of the Dyke March was decorated
>with posters proclaiming "Abolish the death penalty" and
>"Down with the patriarchy."
>
>Men and women hung out of apartment buildings along the
>route shouting their support and adding to the joyful,
>celebratory mood. Some shouted for Mumia Abu-Jamal when
>they saw the Rainbow Flags for Mumia banner.
>
>"There was such a strong sense of pride in ourselves and
>each other," said Nancy Mitchell, a member of Rainbow Flags
>for Mumia. "The energy was overwhelming."
>
>Rainbow Flags for Mumia and the International Action
>Center distributed thousands of "Come out against the death
>penalty" leaflets at the Dyke March and the Pride Parade.
>The leaflet linked the Stonewall Rebellion against racism
>and anti-gay police terror to the current struggle against
>the death penalty and the battle to win a new trial for
>Abu-Jamal.
>
>The leaflet also called on people to join the Los Angeles
>protest for Abu-Jamal at the Democratic Convention on Aug.
>13.
>
> - 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: <004401bfe390$6359f9a0$0a00a8c0@home>
>From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: [WW] Denver rainbow march
>Date: Sat, 1 Jul 2000 15:13:06 -0400
>Content-Type: text/plain;
> charset="iso-8859-1"
>Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
>
>-------------------------
>Via Workers World News Service
>Reprinted from the July 6, 2000
>issue of Workers World newspaper
>-------------------------
>
>DENVER: 'NOT ONE MORE EXECUTION' HEARD AT RAINBOW MARCH
>
>Special to Workers World
>
>Pride poured into the streets of Denver on June 25 as
>100,000 gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans people from
>Colorado and neighboring Wyoming marched in the biggest
>Pride event there to date. One hundred ten contingents took
>part in the multinational march.
>
>Grand marshals included Karen Williams and Dana Austin,
>both African American lesbian comedians, and Leslie
>Feinberg, lesbian transgender activist and a managing
>editor of Workers World newspaper.
>
>Feinberg delivered the Pride rally keynote. She pointed to
>the right-wing murders of Matthew Shepard in nearby
>Laramie, Wyo., and James Byrd Jr. in Jasper, Texas:
>
>"Politicians and the media tell us that giving the courts
>the power to mete out stiffer sentences through passage of
>hate-crimes legislation will put a halt to these lynchings.
>But the killers of Shepard and Byrd knew that they faced
>the death penalty in those states. There is no harsher
>sentence. And virtually all the major lesbian, gay, bi and
>trans organizations--and the Byrd and Shepard families--are
>opposed to the death penalty."
>
>Feinberg said she, along with many others across the
>United States, had been working feverishly to stop the
>execution of Gary Graham/Shaka Sankofa in Texas just days
>before. "The death penalty is being used as a racist
>weapon, an anti-youth, anti-poor weapon. Let us vow: Not
>one more execution!" The crowd cheered in response.
>
>"And let us also vow that we will not let the state take
>Mumia Abu-Jamal from us," she continued. Feinberg is a co-
>founder of Rainbow Flags for Mumia.
>
>"What is the rainbow connection with Mumia's struggle?"
>she asked the crowd. "The state has him on a fast-track for
>execution because he is a Black revolutionary.
>
>"If they were able to execute a man who millions around
>the world believe was framed for political reasons, it is
>meant to send a chilling message to all who fight for
>change. And it would give the green light to the bashers
>and lynchers."
>
>The crowd roared its agreement when Feinberg concluded,
>"What is needed to protect all of our lives is a mass
>movement that unites all who are fighting against
>oppression."
>
> - 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: <004a01bfe390$7121cea0$0a00a8c0@home>
>From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: [WW] Lesbians march in New York
>Date: Sat, 1 Jul 2000 15:13:29 -0400
>Content-Type: text/plain;
> charset="iso-8859-1"
>Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
>
>-------------------------
>Via Workers World News Service
>Reprinted from the July 6, 2000
>issue of Workers World newspaper
>-------------------------
>
>LESBIANS MARCH IN NEW YORK
>
>On June 24, more than 2,500 lesbians and their supporters
>took to the streets of New York for the annual Dyke March.
>These marches take place the night before Lesbian/Gay/Bi/
>Trans Pride marches in cities including San Francisco,
>Chicago, Denver, Tokyo and Toronto.
>
>The first recorded Dyke March was in 1993 when 20,000
>people joined together the night before a national march on
>Wash ington. This tradition continues as a symbol of
>women's contribution to the struggle for lesbian, gay, bi
>and transgender liberation.
>
>Elijah Crane
>
> - 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: <005001bfe390$8693eb60$0a00a8c0@home>
>From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: [WW] Canada cutbacks leave 2,000 sick, 11 dead
>Date: Sat, 1 Jul 2000 15:14:05 -0400
>Content-Type: text/plain;
> charset="iso-8859-1"
>Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
>
>-------------------------
>Via Workers World News Service
>Reprinted from the July 6, 2000
>issue of Workers World newspaper
>-------------------------
>
>CANADA: CUTBACKS LEAVE 2,000 SICK, 11 DEAD
>
>By G. Dunkel
>
>At the end of May in the Canadian city of Walkerton,
>Ontario, some 2,000 of the 5,000 residents became sick. The
>water they drank was contaminated by E coli.
>
>Eleven people died. The medical examiner is looking into
>seven more deaths to see if they were caused by E coli.
>
>Canada is a rich country with the largest supply of fresh
>water in the world. But privatization, government cutbacks
>and unrestricted use of the environment by big business
>have created a public-health crisis.
>
>The province of Ontario has forced all its municipalities
>to take responsibility for monitoring the safety of their
>water supply--including the costs, which are high. Ontario
>Premier Mike Harris said Walkerton officials should have
>applied for a provincial grant to help pay these expenses.
>
>When the press pointed out that they had and were turned
>down, Harris blamed his staff.
>
>One of the most poignant stories was that of Brody Rapp.
>He's a young child who came down with the flu just before
>the E coli outbreak became known. His parents gave him
>extra water to overcome the flu, which made him so sick
>from E coli that he spent weeks in the hospital. Brody will
>probably recover.
>
>Even though everyone in the town has been drinking bottled
>water and washing their hands in bleach for a month,
>another wave of E coli-related illness broke out in the
>middle of June. Government experts are trying to figure out
>why and how the second wave occurred.
>
>Harris went to Walkerton the day the town began to bury
>its dead and denied that anything was his fault.
>
>A letter from David Wood of Mildmay to the Canadian
>Broadcasting Corporation charged: "This is a government
>that has gutted the budgets and personnel of all the vital
>monitors of our environment. The ministry of the
>environment, ministry of natural resources and the local
>conservation authorities have all been decimated by budget
>cuts."
>
>Cuts have gone so deep that people asking the government
>to check their water have to supply the stamp used to
>return the results.
>
> - 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: <005601bfe390$9e1d9d80$0a00a8c0@home>
>From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: [WW] Koreans expose U.S. war crimes
>Date: Sat, 1 Jul 2000 15:14:45 -0400
>Content-Type: text/plain;
> charset="iso-8859-1"
>Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
>
>-------------------------
>Via Workers World News Service
>Reprinted from the July 6, 2000
>issue of Workers World newspaper
>-------------------------
>
>KOREANS EXPOSE U.S. WAR CRIMES
>
>By Scott Scheffer
>New York
>
>Gae Il Hwang and Sun-joon Kim, two south Korean men, were
>attacked by the U.S. military when they were children
>during the Korean War.
>
>They stayed silent for 50 years for fear of reprisals. In
>June they traveled to the United States to tell their
>stories.
>
>Joined by several other south Koreans--all leading
>activists in the growing movement to oust the 37,000 U.S.
>troops in south Korea--they spoke at a special June 24
>forum on U.S. war crimes against the Korean people. The
>forum took place at the United Nations Church Center in New
>York.
>
>The day before, the men spoke at a news conference in
>Washington and a rally near the White House. All these
>events were timed to coincide with the anniversary of the
>June 1950 outbreak of the Korean War.
>
>The largely Korean American audience at the New York forum
>was silent as the men told how the Pentagon attacks had
>affected their lives. Both had been among big groups of
>civilians the U.S. military targeted in the early days of
>the 1950-1953 war.
>
>Gae Il Hwang lost an eye to shrapnel at age 7. Sun-joon
>Kim lost his left arm to a bomb dropped by a U.S. plane.
>
>Since late last year, when the story of the U.S. attack at
>the village of No Gun-ri appeared in the big-business
>media, evidence of some 60 such attacks has surfaced.
>
>Deirdre Griswold, editor of Workers World newspaper, also
>spoke at the June 24 forum. She was part of the
>International Delegation to Investigate U.S. War Crimes in
>Korea that traveled to south Korea in May.
>
>Griswold told of meeting survivors of U.S. attacks
>throughout south Korea. She described sites of mass
>killings and executions of political prisoners.
>
>Griswold said the purpose of U.S. military dominance in
>Asia and elsewhere is to "protect a world order in which
>there is a greater polarization than ever before in human
>history between billionaires and those who don't have a
>handful of rice."
>
>Berta Joubert-Ceci, a Puerto Rican activist and a member
>of the International Action Center, spoke about the
>struggle to get the U.S. Navy out of Vieques, the Puerto
>Rican island used as a U.S. military practice range. The
>world recently learned that Korea has its own Vieques, when
>damage from an errant U.S. bomb at the tiny island of
>Maehyang spurred protests.
>
>Over the years nine people have been killed at Maehyang.
>The latest incident has renewed the Korean people's
>determination to drive the U.S. troops out.
>
>The forum was organized by the Fiftieth Anniversary
>Committee to End the Korean War, which includes the
>Congress for Korean Reunification, International Action
>Center, Korean American National Coordinating Council,
>Veterans for Peace/NYC, and Nodutdol for Korean Community
>Development.
>
>The forum was co-sponsored by the Korea Truth Commission
>to Investigate U.S. Military Attacks on Civilians, which
>was founded in Beijing in May. The KTC includes
>representatives from the Democratic People's Republic of
>Korea (socialist north Korea), the south Korean progressive
>movement and overseas Koreans.
>
>The south Korean delegation was invited by the Rev. Kiyul
>Chung, secretary general of the KTC. Chung was the primary
>organizer of the news conference and rally in Washington
>and of the international delegation that toured south Korea
>in May.
>
>At the forum he asked that "we come together again in June
>of 2001, for a tribunal of U.S. war crimes against the
>Korean people."
>
>Brian Becker of the IAC called for a rally on July 27,
>Korea's Armistice Day. "Let's not end this meeting today by
>simply remembering all this important testimony, but
>instead let's take what we've learned into the streets," he
>said.
>
> - 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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