>Unions, doctors' organizations--including the Union of >Turkish Doctors--lawyers' and writers' organizations have >been supporting the political prisoners. A member of the >Turkish doctors' union recently examined the political >prisoners because of the hunger strike. After his visit >police arrested him. > >Right now the main topic in Turkey is this hunger strike. > >But the Turkish government has closed its eyes and ears. >Because the level of struggle has been very high in the >prisons, the officials are determined to break it down. They >have tried everything. Right now they want to try a U.S.- >made and developed system of isolation and torture called >the "F-system." > >The current hunger strike is a struggle to prevent the >imposition of the F-System by Turkish prison officials. This >is a system modeled on U.S. maximum-security, behavior- >modification prisons that impose high-tech total isolation >in order to break down prisoners' morale and control them >politically. This includes total isolation of all prisoners. >It is a form of physical and psychological torture that >means prisoners are being punished three times over: >imprisonment plus torture plus total isolation. > >As the hunger strike continues, hundreds of political >prisoners in Turkey's prisons are at risk of dying soon. > >U.S. ROLE IN TURKISH REPRESSION > >There are almost 72,000 prisoners in Turkey. Twelve thousand >are political prisoners, including leftists, Kurds, writers, >journalists and members of Muslim organizations. > >Truly horrific prison conditions are imposed on the leftist >and Kurdish political prisoners. For leftists and Kurdish >people, prisons have been the center of torture. > >Turkey has been known for the bad conditions in its prisons, >including torture and sometimes murder of prisoners by >prison guards and soldiers. > >For instance, in 1996 prison guards and soldiers attacked >Kurdish political prisoners in Diyarbakir prison, killing 11 >of them. Last year prison guards and soldiers attacked >political prisoners in Ulucanlar prison, killing 10 of them. > >Also this year, prison guards and soldiers attacked >political prisoners in Burdur prison. One political >prisoner's arm was cut off and was later found in a dog's >mouth on the street. > >These are only a few examples. Because of these kinds of >conditions, political prisoners have been resisting. But >behind the bars, what can they do except use their lives as >a weapon? > >The massive repression in Turkey is bought and paid for in >the U.S. > >Turkey receives large amounts of U.S. military aid to pay >for its services of providing the Pentagon with bases in its >strategic location at the crossroads of Europe, Africa and >the Middle East. These bases are used daily to carry out >bombing attacks on the people of Iraq and help Israel in its >genocidal attacks on the Palestinian people. > >Turks are sent to the U.S. to be schooled in techniques of >torture. And U.S. aid enables the Turkish government to pay >for new high-tech torture prisons in Turkey, while the >people in Turkey and the U.S. need that money for schools >and hospitals. > >The prison system that the Turkish government is now trying >to implement is modeled after the one in the U.S. > >The U.S government is behind the repression in Turkey and is >benefiting from it. But it is in the interest of poor and >working people in the United States to stand in solidarity >with their sisters and brothers inside the Turkish prisons >and fight back against this repression. > >COURAGE & DETERMINATION > >This isn't the first mass hunger strike in Turkish prisons. >Political prisoners went on hunger strike in the Metris >prison in Istanbul in 1984. Four political prisoners died >because of a hunger strike during the Turkish junta that >lasted 72 days. Their demands were for the end of torture in >prison and the right not to wear prison uniforms. > >Before this hunger strike, prisons were real torture >centers. After the hunger strike this situation improved a >little. > >A 79-day hunger strike took place in 1996. At that time, >almost all the political prisoners from all the prisons went >on hunger strike for the same demands. Most got sick and 12 >died. > >Today some of the strikers' conditions are deteriorating >dangerously. They have lost a lot of weight and are getting >closer to death. > >The position of chair of the Human Rights Commission of the >Turkish Parliament has recently been handed over to Mehmet >Arslan, a member of the fascist Nationalist Action Party >(MHP). MHP members killed a lot of leftist people before >1980. > >Arslan recently took some parliamentary representatives on a >visit to the prisons. After the visit, he commented >publicly, "Let them die." > >Turkish Minister of Justice Hikmet Sami Turk said that the >government would postpone the F-system and not penalize >political prisoners who went on hunger strike to death. But >Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit has said that the government >will never give up the F-system. > >They are waiting for some people to die. Because of the >Turkish government's negative response, the political >prisoners have decided not to take sugar. Sugar is very >important during a hunger strike. If a person doesn't take >sugar, he or she will die very quickly. > >Now the strikers are taking only water. Will the last step >be to stop taking water too? Without water, a person cannot >live more than 10 days. > >A woman named Sevgi Erdogan, whose husband was killed by the >police, is on hunger strike to death. During the Turkish >junta, she was arrested and police tortured her in front of >her four-year-old daughter. Since starting the current >hunger strike she has lost almost 36 pounds. > >Most of the strikers are losing their eyesight. > >Members of the Turkish government are considering forcing >the prisoners to eat or to take medicine. But doctors who >are organizing in solidarity with the strikers have said >that without the permission of the political prisoners, no >ethical doctor in Turkey would ever try to give them >medicine. > >The situation is becoming more drastic, menacing and >dangerous with every passing day. Death is getting closer >for the strikers. They are behind bars. They are using their >lives as a weapon of resistance because they have nothing >else to fight with. > >Cemile Cakir is a former political prisoner from Turkey who >participated in earlier hunger strikes. She is currently a member of >Workers World Party in Boston. > >- 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) > > > > >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2000 21:22:48 -0500 >Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII >Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT >Subject: [WW] Racist Attack on Voting Rights Looms Large >Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the Dec. 21, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >VOTING RIGHTS STRUGGLE STILL LOOMS LARGE > >By Monica Moorehead > >Last week, as I was reading a newspaper while riding the >train into Manhattan, four African American women pointed to >a front-page picture of Gov. George W. Bush. They yelled in >one angry voice, "He stole the election from us." > >Their reaction reflects the deep feelings and indescribable >frustration of millions of African Americans across the >country. In Florida Black people's democratic right to vote >was trampled on by the Republicans and downplayed by the top >leaders of the Democratic Party. > >The outburst by these women expressed the common sentiment >that if the rights of Black people in Florida are violated, >then all Black people's rights have been violated. > >The big-business media have focused a lot of attention on >the oral arguments in the U.S. Supreme Court over whether or >not to have a manual ballot count in Florida. But where is >the genuine concern over the real issue behind this debate-- >the political disenfranchisement of thousands of Black >people, along with Jewish and elderly voters? > >The Black community is demanding answers to many questions, >like: Why did so many polling places in predominantly Black >areas have out-of-date voting machines that were prone to >make errors? Why was there an increased police presence in >these same areas on Election Day? > >Why was there such an obvious absence of experienced polling >volunteers to assist first-time voters in the African >American and Haitian communities? What were the origins of >the "ex-felons" list? And the questions go on and on. > >Reports in the U.S. and international alternative media have >helped to show that the Florida Republicans, led by George >W.'s brother Gov. Jeb Bush, conspired to steal the election >from Democrat Al Gore. The Republicans knew that Black >voters would come out in large numbers to vote for Gore >based on a huge NAACP voter-registration drive. > >According to the Dec. 3 Washington Post, some 893,000 Black >people cast ballots in Florida on Nov. 7--a 65-percent >increase compared to 1996. Forty percent of them were new >voters. > >The Republicans understood that Black people in Florida >would use the ballot to express their utter disdain for a >racist governor who is pro-death penalty, pro-police >brutality and anti-affirmative action by voting for a >Democrat. In other words, the Black vote would be more of a >symbolic anti-Bush vote than a pro-Gore vote. > >RACIST 'SCRUB LIST' > >Bob Herbert, in a Dec. 7 New York Times column, reported >that the Republicans hired ChoicePoint, a private >corporation with close ties to the Republicans, and its >subsidiary, Database Technologies Inc., to come up with a so- >called "scrub list" of 173,000 names. Florida Attorney >General Katherine Harris, co-chair of the Bush campaign in >the state, eventually turned the list over to county >election officials. > >These were names of Black voters who could easily be >invalidated. All the poll officials had to do was claim that >they were "ex-felons," deceased or registered more than >once. One out of three Black men in Florida do not have the >right to vote due to prior felony convictions. Florida has >the highest number of disenfranchised Black men in the >country. > >ChoicePoint has admitted that it issued an erroneous list >last spring and summer of 8,000 voters who were supposedly >ex-felons. As it turned out, these voters were only >convicted of misdemeanors that should not have legally >excluded their right to vote. > >Once this list was exposed, why was there no independent >investigation into the illegal, sordid practices of >ChoicePoint? Why were they allowed to submit another list >for the presidential election after they were exposed as >being in the Republicans' pocket? > >As a result of this racist conspiracy, one in five ballots >in heavily Black precincts were thrown out. In some areas, >one in three ballots were thrown out, compared to one in 14 >ballots in white areas. > >Civil-rights groups like the NAACP and former Student >Nonviolent Coordinating Committee activists have called for >a federal investigation into the Florida voting-rights >irregularities. So far U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno and >other government officials have ignored their demands. > >In fact, the bosses of ChoicePoint and DBT, along with Jeb >Bush, Katherine Harris and others, should be put on trial >for conspiracy to steal the election. That trial should take >place in the various Black communities throughout Florida >and be televised. > >The 2000 presidential election debacle should be a reminder >to every revolutionary and progressive activist that the >struggle against racism, along with the struggle for >bourgeois-democratic rights for the most oppressed, is an >ongoing battle. The question of voting rights continues to >be a life-and-death issue for Black people, immigrants and >other marginalized communities. > >The people of Florida have not forgotten that Harry Moore, >chair of the state NAACP, and his wife were killed in 1951. >Their house was bombed during a voter-registration drive he >led. > >[Moorehead was Workers World Party's 2000 presidential >candidate.] > >- 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) > > > > >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2000 21:22:48 -0500 >Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 >Content-transfer-encoding: Quoted-printable >Subject: [WW] Solidarity Delegation Meets with FARC L:eader >Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >------------------------- >Via Workers World News Service >Reprinted from the Dec. 21, 2000 >issue of Workers World newspaper >------------------------- > >REPORT FROM COLOMBIA: SOLIDARITY DELEGATION MEETS >WITH FARC LEADER > >By Carl Glenn >San Vicente del Caguan, Colombia > >Just a week before a Dec. 7 deadline for the expiration of >peace negotiations between the Colombian government and the >revolutionary movement, an International Action Center >delegation headed by former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey >Clark traveled to the demilitarized zone in Colombia. It met >with the leaders of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of >Colombia-People's Army (FARC-EP). > >The trip's urgency was heightened by the fact that massive >U.S. military intervention legislated in "Plan Colombia" is >scheduled to go into effect in January. > >Clark met with Raul Reyes, a top leader of the largest and >oldest revolutionary force in Latin America, for discussions >that lasted several hours. The meeting's objective was to >help open a channel of communication between the people of >Colombia and the people of the U.S. independent of the high- >powered and high-pressure opinion-molding corporate media. > >'HISTORIC DRAMA' > >The other major objective, according to IAC Co-director >Teresa Gutierrez, was to obtain a first-hand acquaintance >with the situation in Colombia. Gutierrez accompanied Clark >on the trip, along with videographer Elisa Chavez and this >reporter, who served as interpreter. > >"The only way to get a more objective picture was to speak >to the players in this historic drama who are ordinarily >ignored by the pro-government media. The media reports focus >exclusively on the interests of the very rich in both >Colombia and the United States," Gutierrez said. > >In the 36 years since the FARC's founding, only four other >U.S. visitors had been invited to any of the insurgent >encampments. > >[The interview between Clark and Commander Reyes, as well as >other footage from the trip, was screened for the first time >Dec. 12 at the Martin Luther King Jr. Labor Center of the >1199/Service Employees union in New York.] > >IN THE DEMILITARIZED ZONE > >In addition to discussions with the revolutionary >commanders, the delegation also met with labor leaders, >environmental experts, rank-and-file FARC soldiers and >residents of San Vicente del Caguan, one of the >municipalities within the zone from which Colombian army >forces have been withdrawn. > >The demilitarized zone is about one hour south of the >capital, Bogot=E1, via an airline that is the commercial >branch of the Colombian Air Force. The zone is slightly > _______________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi _______________________________________________________ Kominform list for general information. Subscribe/unsubscribe messages to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Anti-Imperialism list for geopolitics. Subscribe/unsubscribe messages: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________________
