5) J20 Lawsuit Challenges Gov't Repression
by [EMAIL PROTECTED]
6) Delegates Join Baghdad Protest
by [EMAIL PROTECTED]
7) Oklahoma Executes Disabled Black Lesbian
by [EMAIL PROTECTED]
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Jan. 25, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
INTERNATIONAL ACTION CENTER: J20 LAWSUIT CHALLENGES
GOV'T REPRESSION
[The International Action Center issued the following
statement from Teresa Gutierrez, Larry Holmes and Brian
Becker at a Washington news conference Jan. 15. Holmes and
Becker announced a major lawsuit against government
interference with the rights of J20 protesters.]
We are grateful to the Partnership for Civil Justice and the
National Lawyers Guild for filing a lawsuit on behalf of
those who plan to organize protests at the Jan. 20
inauguration of George W. Bush.
There is rich symbolism in our announcement, on the birthday
of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., of a major lawsuit in support
of the free-speech rights of demonstrators who are fighting
against racism and on other social justice related issues.
There is an unfinished fight for civil rights that will be
represented by our demonstration on Jan. 20.
The First Amendment of the Constitution and the right to
free speech by those who oppose government policy and
specifically George W. Bush's right-wing, racist and anti-
woman policies are faced with a new crisis. This is not the
first effort by the government and police forces to abuse
their power in an attempt to restrain the free speech rights
of critics.
Our lawsuit specifically asserts that the government's
current security plan for the Jan. 20 inauguration is
"constitutionally invalid."
While the National Parks Service was forced to grant us
permits to rally at Freedom Plaza (14th St. and Pennsylvania
Ave. NW), at the Justice Department (Pennsylvania Ave.
between 9th and 10th Sts. NW), and at McPherson Square (15th
and I Sts. NW), we believe that the Secret Service,
Metropolitan Police and other government agencies are using
the issue of national security as a pretext to inhibit,
violate and subvert our constitutionally-protected
guarantees to free speech.
The lawsuit focuses on several issues, including these two:
1) Access to the inaugural parade route: The government has
set up security check points through which all people
entering the parade route will be filtered. We believe that
the system is established to discriminate against
demonstrators who will be denied the access granted to
Bush's financial donors and right-wing ideological
supporters. The police agencies have told the media that the
checkpoints are being established because of the
demonstrators. This clearly demonstrates that the
checkpoints are not "neutral" but are "content" based. The
checkpoints are not really for security, but to restrain the
rights of demonstrators to gain access to the parade route.
2) "Unfettered discretion" by police agencies: The police
agencies have been calculatingly vague about their rules and
conduct regarding security, check points, what will be
permitted and what will not. Boundaries and parameters keep
shifting, as do the explanations given to the public and to
demonstrators by police authorities.
This policy of deliberate vagueness is an undisguised
attempt to give police agencies "unfettered discretion" on
Jan. 20 in regard to their behavior towards demonstrators.
On its face, this "unfettered discretion" is a violation of
the demonstrators' right to organize and prepare a peaceful
and legal assembly.
The lawsuit will be filed in U.S. District Court at 10:30 am
on Jan. 16.
We are in an emergency situation. With only days before the
scheduled inaugural event and our demonstration, it is
necessary for the courts to take urgent action against the
"constitutionally invalid" procedures of the police
agencies.
Thousands of people are coming to Washington on Jan. 20 to
protest racist disenfranchisement of voters--especially from
the African American and Haitian community--in Florida and
throughout the U.S.
They will demonstrate against the death penalty. Since
George W. Bush has overseen more executions as governor of
Texas than any other governor in history, he has become the
face of the death penalty, an inherently racist tool of
repression.
Just last week, Wanda Jean Allen, the first African American
woman to be executed in half a century, was legally lynched
in Oklahoma. While George W. Bush did not preside over this
particular execution, it clearly demonstrates that
"compassionate conservatism" is merely a facade and the
death machine rolls on.
Many will be there to support a new trial for famed
broadcast journalist and Pennsylvania death-row prisoner
Mumia Abu-Jamal
Women and their allies are demonstrating in support of Roe
vs. Wade and the right to control their own bodies.
Workers are coming to protest against the anti-labor
policies of Bush and his big-business supporters.
The lesbian, gay, bi and trans movement will be bringing a
large contingent to Jan. 20.
Jan. 20, 2001, will be remembered, not as the first day of a
new period of conservative, ultra-right reaction, but as an
historical next step by the budding movement for social
justice in the United States.
- 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: torstai 18. tammikuu 2001 11:06
Subject: [WW] Delegates Join Baghdad Protest
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Jan. 25, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
TEN YEARS AFTER WAR ON IRAQ: DELEGATES JOIN
BAGHDAD PROTEST AGAINST U.S.-LED AGGRESSION
Special to Workers World
Baghdad, Iraq
Fifty anti-sanctions activists led by International Action
Center founder and former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark
joined a demonstration in downtown Baghdad at 2 a.m. on Jan.
17 to mark the 10th anniversary of the U.S.-led war of
aggression against Iraq.
The U.S. delegation joined thousands of protesters chanting
"Down, down USA" and "Clinton, Albright, you can't hide,
sanctions equal genocide." It was at 2 a.m. 10 years ago
that U.S. and British forces unleashed rockets and bombs on
sleeping Baghdad.
Many protesters held torches to illuminate the streets. They
also used them to burn U.S. flags.
While life is still difficult for the Iraqi population, the
mood of demonstrators was optimistic and combative. In the
months leading up to the anniversary, more and more
countries had begun individually breaking the ban on flights
and other sanctions against Iraq. More than 100 flights have
entered Iraq in the last five months.
In addition, the heroic uprising of the Palestinians has
mobilized the population of many Arab countries against U.S.
imperialism and increased the support for Iraq.
The U.S. group, called the Iraq Sanctions Challenge, arrived
in Baghdad by air the night of Jan. 13, acting in defiance
of the U.S./UN imposed no-flight zones. At a press
conference at the airport Clark declared, "The U.S. must end
the genocidal sanctions against Iraq. The whole world
demands that the sanctions be lifted completely and
immediately."
The delegation spent the next three days visiting sites that
demonstrate the consequences of the 10 years of sanctions or
those hit by the frequent bombings of the past decade.
These sites included a bomb shelter, elementary schools, a
university, water and sewage treatment plants, and
hospitals.
SOLIDARITY IN ACTION
The delegation is delivering over $1.5 million in medical
and school supplies. Sara Flounders, co-director of the IAC,
explained: "This is only a drop in the bucket compared to
the need created by the sanctions. The donation of these
goods is mainly an act of solidarity, as was our attendance
at this demonstration tonight."
In a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz, Clark
denounced U.S. policy toward Iraq. "This is genocide," he
said. "The progress that Iraq has made must not be lost at
12 noon on Jan. 20 when George Bush is inaugurated.
Inspections teams and the oil-for-food program were both
frauds from the beginning. There is no justification for the
sanctions. They are a war by other means."
Before returning home the delegates will meet the minister
of health and visit a pharmaceutical plant, a school for the
blind, the Iraqi Women's Federation, a food distribution
center and a battleground with known concentrations of
depleted uranium in its soil, among other places.
On the delegation is New Mexican activist Damacio Lopez, who
will be collecting soil samples from the DU sites. A storm
of protest in Europe has brought to international attention
the threat to soldiers and civilians from pollution by
radioactive and toxic DU shells.
Years before the Pentagon used DU in Yugoslavia, it used it
in even greater quantities in Iraq. While the rest of the
delegation will be returning to the United States, Lopez
will take the soil samples to Europe for analysis, since the
U.S. government has refused to do the study.
Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein put rumors he was ill to rest by
delivering a 20-minute address on Iraqi television Jan. 17.
He said the war was a confrontation between good and evil,
which was continuing till this day.
"Iraq has triumphed over the enemies of the [Arab] nation
and over its enemies. ... The missiles and bombs of
aggression hit everything material and suitable as target
for their weapons. ... But did you know what happened in
that continuous encounter then, and in this one which is
going on even now? Did you know what the injustice and the
embargo did to the people of Iraq?"
Hussein identified the criminals as the Western powers in
the U.S.-led coalition that inflicted devastation on Iraq.
DELEGATION'S MAKEUP
The IAC delegation brings together people from 15 U.S.
states and seven countries, including Canada, Japan,
Lebanon, Greece, Britain, Iceland and Palestine. It includes
students, teachers, longtime activists, social workers,
lawyers and others committed to peace.
The delegates met with the Iraqi host organization, the
Organization of Friendship and Solidarity with Iraq. The
head of OFSI, Dr. Hashimi, said: "You will see a nation
under siege. The siege is from outsiders who say they do it
in accordance with law and legality and UN resolutions.
"It is a siege to achieve unjustified objectives. We hold on
in spite of the suffering and the pain and we will continue
to hold on for as long as necessary. We know that if we give
up we will lose Iraq.
"In the north, the Kurdish area is under U.S./UN control.
These are two major cities. Each city has its own
government, its own prime minister and its own relations
with outside countries. They have battles and arguments with
each other. They are totally divided. They are under U.S.
control. This is what the rest of Iraq would be like.
"Show us a country that has cooperated with the U.S. in the
last 15 years, since the collapse of the Soviet Union, that
has an improved situation," Hashimi 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)
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: torstai 18. tammikuu 2001 11:05
Subject: [WW] Oklahoma Executes Disabled Black Lesbian
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Jan. 25, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
WANDA JEAN ALLEN: OKLAHOMA EXECUTES DISABLED
BLACK LESBIAN
By Elijah Crane
On Jan. 11, the state of Oklahoma executed Wanda Jean Allen,
an African American lesbian who was brain damaged.
Allen was the first African American woman executed in the
United States since the death penalty was reinstated in
1976. She was the first woman put to death by the state of
Oklahoma since 1903.
These facts, combined with the questions regarding the
extent of her brain disability, drew widespread
international attention to the case.
Oklahoma executed 11 people last year, ranking second
highest in the United States. The first is still Texas,
where Gov. George W. Bush oversaw the execution of more than
150 people--more than all other states combined. Forty
people were put to death in Texas in 2000.
In January 2001, Oklahoma broke its own record with seven
executions carried out in a single month. The previous
record was four in 1933.
THE CASE OF WANDA JEAN ALLEN
Accused of killing Gloria Leathers, her lover of two years,
Allen was sentenced to death in 1988. After an argument that
broke out between the two women in a grocery store parking
lot, Leathers called the police to accompany her and her
mother back to the couple's apartment in order to collect
her belongings.
The cops left the apartment before Leathers. According to
Allen, Leathers beat her with a rake at that time. Pictures
of Allen taken after the events supported that claim.
However, evidence of the attack was withheld from Allen's
trial. The cops claimed they saw the rake in the apartment
and foresaw a possibility of it being used in a physical
confrontation between the two women. They said they removed
it from the apartment before they left. So all evidence and
references to the attack were barred.
Allen was charged with capital murder. That is out of the
ordinary in a domestic abuse case. But she had all the cards
stacked against her, living in a racist, bigoted society and
being African American, lesbian, poor and disabled.
Allen's IQ was officially 69. During the trial prosecutorial
misinformation--including claims that Allen graduated from
high school--conflicted with reports that she was
cognitively impaired. As happens in many death-penalty
cases, Allen's lawyer did not provide adequate
representation.
Her only hope to reverse the sentence was that the Oklahoma
State Pardons and Paroles Board would act favorably on a
request to recommend that Gov. Frank Keating grant clemency.
National lesbian, gay, bi and trans groups and grassroots
activists organized a call-in campaign to Keating's office
demanding clemency for Allen.
When the board met to take up her case on Dec. 13, activists
and death-penalty foes packed the room. But the decision was
3-1 against Allen. The board would not recommend that her
sentence be reversed.
Keating would not take action either. At the time, he was
being considered for a position in the cabinet of his
colleague, "Gov. Death"-turned-President-Elect-Death George
W. Bush.
JESSE JACKSON ARRESTED
The Rev. Jesse Jackson traveled to Oklahoma twice to call
for a stay of execution.
On Jan. 10, police arrested Jackson with 27 other death-
penalty opponents taking part in a civil-disobedience action
in front of McAlester State Prison. After spending the night
in jail, Jackson met with Keating on Jan. 11, urging him to
grant a 30-day stay based on Allen's brain disability.
A federal court in Denver had already denied the appeal by
Allen's lawyers. Keating firmly turned down Jackson. The
governor inaccurately cited Allen's ability to complete
school as proof that she was not cognitively impaired.
Allen's lawyers then took their last appeal to the Supreme
Court. Once again, they were denied.
Wanda Jean Allen was killed at 9 p.m. on Jan. 11.
Lesbian, gay, bi, trans and anti-death-penalty activists are
outraged at this flagrant injustice. They will come together
at the Jan. 20 demonstration at Bush's inauguration in
Washington to raise the case of Wanda Jean Allen and to
demand an end to the racist, anti-lesbian/gay/bi/trans, anti-
poor death penalty once and for all.
- 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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