WW News Service Digest #263
1) WBAI'S "Radio in Exile"
by [EMAIL PROTECTED]
2) Anti-Capitalist Youths Storm "Wall of Shame"
by [EMAIL PROTECTED]
3) 463 Arrested at Protest
by [EMAIL PROTECTED]
4) Fidel Castro to Anti-FTAA Protests
by [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: torstai 26. huhtikuu 2001 14:21
Subject: [WW] WBAI'S "Radio in Exile"
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the May 3, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
PROTEST PLANNED aPRIL 28: fANS HEAR FULL DAY OF WBAI
"RADIO IN EXILE"
By John Catalinotto
New York
The hundreds of people who packed the Theater for a New City
on New York's Lower East Side April 21 were treated to a
full day of WBAI radio as the progressive movement in the
New York area remembers it.
"Wake-Up Call," "Grandpa" Al Lewis, "Building Bridges" and
other favorites were put on in the main hall. Poetry
readings, music and food were served in the secondary
theater and in the long hallway by those fighting to save
what they call "free speech radio."
The event's success gave organizers hope that a
demonstration planned for April 28 will deal a strong blow
against corporate control. That day's events will include a
noon rally at Borough Hall, Brooklyn, a march across the
Brooklyn Bridge and a rally in front of WBAI's Wall Street
offices.
WBAI is the New York affiliate of the Pacifica Foundation,
which also has stations in Washington, Houston, Los Angeles
and Berkeley, Calif. The Pacifica network in general and
WBAI in particular have throughout their history been the
one mass media outlet that provided a way for voices of the
U.S. left to be heard. Many activists believe, with good
reason, that this outlet is now in danger of falling under
corporate control.
WBAI in New York has been under siege since producer Sharan
Harper and former station manager Bernard White, who was
also the morning talk-show host of "Wake-Up Call," were
fired last December and volunteer Janice Bryant was barred
from the station. This show was known for its aggressive
coverage of police brutality and support for Mumia Abu-Jamal
and other political prisoners.
The new management then started slowly purging all producers
and volunteers who didn't fall into line. By the beginning
of April "Democracy Now!" producer Amy Goodman was fired
from her "Wake-Up Call" duties. Ken Nash, Mimi Rosenberg,
Robert Knight and Deepa Fernandes were also fired. Award-
winning journalists Juan Gonzalez and Mario Murillo resigned
in protest. Nonagenarian and prisoner supporter "Grandpa" Al
Lewis of television's "The Munsters" fame was pushed out.
WBAI ALIVE
With 500 people in the building throughout the day and a
turnover throughout the eight hours, organizers felt the day
was a big success. Putting on their shows for stations in
different parts of the country and for streaming Web sites
were the "exiled" WBAI producers. Along with them were some
like Andrea Sears and David Rothenberg who are still
employed at WBAI. All were in solidarity with the struggle.
Fans who miss the political bite of "Wake-Up Call" had a
chance to see and hear Bernard White, Amy Goodman and
company put on the old version.
The shows took up the struggle to save WBAI and prevent
Pacifica from falling into corporate hands. Organizers
especially emphasized the current effort, based on the First
Amendment, to sue to stop the layoffs and get the "exiled"
WBAI professionals reinstated.
But the shows also presented good, left-wing radio. Rep.
Major Owens was a guest, as was the lead counsel for the
Puerto Rican Legal Defense Fund on the issue of Vieques and
the U.S. Navy's plan to resume bombing April 27. There were
discussions also of the Charleston 5 labor defendants and
their struggle in South Carolina.
Mimi Rosenberg, an organizer of the event and a producer of
"Building Bridges"--a show about labor and class struggle--
told Workers World it was a tremendous success.
"The combination of social and political interchange
attracted lots of people and rejuvenated their dedication to
save WBAI," said Rosenberg. "It fired them up by exposing
them to the content that made WBAI important to them in the
first place.
"The new management is looking to fire the old listeners and
bring on a new, more palatable, mainstream type of
programming to win listeners with a different pocketbook.
This is a political attack to kill off the left edge of
political reportage and direct, engaged journalism that
expresses empathy with the working class," Rosenberg said.
She noted that there will be a demonstration on the issue of
Vieques at the same time as the one to save WBAI, but the
two groups are speaking at each other's rallies in
solidarity.
She urged people to support their struggle "whether with a
demonstration, an act of civil disobedience, by calling in
to the station and asking for the return of those who were
fired. Withhold funds from the current management,"
Rosenberg said. "It is a vital strategy for the activist
community to wrest back control of the station to bring it
back in line with its progressive mission."
- END -
(Copyright 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
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[EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org)
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: torstai 26. huhtikuu 2001 14:21
Subject: [WW] Anti-Capitalist Youths Storm "Wall of Shame"
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the May 3, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
QUEBEC CITY SUMMIT: ANTI-CAPITALIST YOUTHS STORM
"WALL OF SHAME"
CHEERED ON BY SYMPATHETIC POPULACE
By Deirdre Griswold
Quebec City, Quebec
Is there any safe haven these days for those who make the
trade and investment rules to exploit the workers of the
world? Not Seattle. Not Washington, D.C. Not even the posh
ski resort of Davos, Switzerland.
And now, not Quebec City either. Not after the battles of
April 20-21.
When U.S. President George W. Bush joined 33 other heads of
state here for the Summit of the Americas, this city was
solidly against him.
It wasn't just the tens of thousands of demonstrators, many
of whom fought valiantly for two days against robo-cops,
tear gas, water cannons and plastic bullets.
It wasn't just the 68,000 people, mostly union members, from
all over Canada who marched on April 21.
It was also the people of this city, who showed their
unstinting support for the protesters.
A SEA OF SUPPORT
They expressed it in many ways. The student associations at
local schools hosted the many people from out of town,
providing them a safe rear base. Residents in the
neighborhoods where protesters were being gassed came out of
their homes and apartments with bottles of water and washed
out their streaming eyes.
Some offered face masks like the kind used for spray
painting. One man even chased after demonstrators with a
plate full of muffins.
When the street fighting became really heavy on Saturday
night, people began lugging objects from their homes to
build barricades against the police.
The Canadian government had enraged the local population by
building a 3-foot-high wall of concrete topped a 10-foot
high by chain-link fence around the whole of the old city,
which contains both historic buildings as well as modern
office towers. No demonstrations were allowed inside this
2.5-mile-long perimeter, and only authorized persons could
enter through heavily guarded checkpoints.
In this beautiful French city, the perimeter was seen as an
ugly affront, another assault by U.S. imperialist culture,
scornfully called McDo's. It symbolized the growing gap
between billionaires and workers, between rich and poor
nations, that everyone equates with the spread of U.S.
corporations around the world.
It cost the Canadian government $46 million to build the
wall and mobilize 6,000 police to protect it.
THE BATTLES BEGIN
Ren� L�vesque Boulevard, named after the founder of the
Parti Quebecois--the nationalist party of the French-
speaking population of Quebec--runs right up to the
perimeter in an elevated section of the city.
On April 20 thousands of people, mostly students, gathered
at Laval University and then marched two miles along the
boulevard through a neighborhood of two-story houses, right
up to the forbidden area. All along the way, neighborhood
people watched and gave thumbs up.
As the protesters massed in a large open space next to the
Grand Theater of Quebec, squads of militants moved to the
front and began trying to tear down the fence. Some climbed
up it as others pulled it back and forth.
Meanwhile, police on the other side of the fence, almost
hidden behind helmets, gas masks, shields and body armor,
began lobbing tear gas canisters into the crowd.
A loud thud would be followed by a whistle. Everyone looked
up as the canister described a lazy arc against the blue sky
before exploding near the ground and releasing a cloud of
gas.
Instead of running away as they were supposed to do, the
protesters held scarves and masks to their faces. Some
intrepid individuals with heavy gloves even grabbed the
canisters and lobbed them back at the police.
This new movement uses puppets, costumes and other
imaginative contraptions to ridicule the rich and powerful.
Various devices are rolled along with the crowd. One of
these looked like a medieval catapult. And so it was. At
first, it was used to hurl teddy bears and pink rabbits at
the Darth Vader cops. But later, the catapult lobbed more
effective projectiles across the fence.
Thud! Thud! Thud! The tear gas became heavier, but
fortunately the wind was blowing straight at the police.
Soon the demonstrators had knocked down a big section of the
wall and were inside the perimeter, throwing stones and
planks at the cops.
Gas, plastic bullets--but the protests continue
The battle surged back and forth for several hours.
Helicopters whirred overhead.
When the gas became unbearable the crowd would move back. As
soon as it cleared, they moved up to the perimeter again. As
those overwhelmed by gas retreated for a little respite from
the battle, others took their place.
Then the police upped the ante. They fired plastic bullets
at the front of the demonstration, seriously injuring Eric
Laferriere, who was hit in the throat. It turned out later
that Laferriere was only a bystander and not a demonstrator.
They sprayed pepper gas point blank at people nearest the
fence. Around the same time, the rumble of big machinery
could be heard over the yells, cheers, exploding canisters
and helicopter rotors.
Two immense tank-like water cannons came zipping around the
corner, spraying as they went.
But the militants were ready for them. They knew the weak
spots. Several masked demonstrators rushed right up to the
tanks and broke one of their windows. The tanks retreated.
Then thud, thud, more gas.
A big cheer went up when it was announced that an opening
session of the summit had been postponed because tear gas
had seeped into the building's ventilation system.
'WALL OF SHAME'
This was just one of many battles fought over the weekend as
the authorities tried to isolate a big area of the city and
keep it safe for the representatives of U.S. imperialism.
Even the local daily newspapers expressed outrage at the
police tactics. The perimeter was referred to as the "wall
of shame." A cartoon on the front page of Le Soleil showed a
suit saying, "We are here to discuss the free circulation of
goods and services," while being guarded by a space-suited
cop and wire fence.
Workers all over Canada are aroused against the so-called
Free Trade Area of the Americas because they recognize it as
a further extension of the North American Free Trade
Agreement. NAFTA has already caused downward pressure on
wages and benefits for Canadian workers.
Social services are being undermined. Canadian companies are
shutting down and moving away. U.S. corporations and banks
are becoming more dominant all the time.
There's a struggle in Canada right now to save the national
postal system, which is being attacked under NAFTA by U.S.
package delivery companies because it is government
subsidized.
Workers throughout Canada feel all of this. And that's why
tens of thousands of auto workers, carpenters, teachers,
health-service workers and many others turned out to
demonstrate against the FTAA.
But in addition the people of Quebec have a consciousness
shaped by national oppression. Quebec is majority French-
speaking, and it has gone through many years of struggle to
assert its identity in the predominantly English-speaking
country of Canada.
QUEBEC STRUGGLE FOR SOVEREIGNTY
The French-speaking people of Quebec must struggle against
both Ottawa and Washington to maintain their language,
culture and standard of living. They also have a strong
sense of solidarity with oppressed nations.
The cry "So-so-so, solidarite" was taken up again and again
during the protests.
The biggest loser in NAFTA has been Mexico, where U.S.
imports have displaced 6 million agricultural workers,
driving ever more poor people to look for jobs in the United
States.
In Quebec, solidarity with Latin America is a popular issue.
Many Canadian workers who vacation in Cuba despise the U.S.
blockade. Cuban President Fidel Castro's declaration of
support for the protests was widely reported in the media.
There was graffiti all over the city ridiculing the way Cuba
was barred from the summit for supposedly lacking
"democracy"--while Quebec was under police siege.
Many protesters wore Che Guevara T-shirts. Someone had
artfully drawn a map of the hemisphere on plywood covering a
shop window. Cuba was labeled "Free Territory of the
Americas."
On Saturday during the labor march, which did not challenge
the perimeter, militants broke away and climbed long steel
steps up the side of a precipitous hill to an area of small
streets directly below the wall. While most were youths,
some union members joined the breakaway groups.
What began as skirmishes involving hundreds of demonstrators
turned into a night of youth rebellion. Thousands of people
fought the police, built huge bonfires and barricades,
punched holes through the wall, and celebrated with music
and dancing in the streets.
Even after some were forced back down the hill by tear gas--
and were attacked by water cannon while on the steep open
steps--they regrouped in the downtown area and continued the
protest.
By Sunday morning 463 were in jail. The police reported 80
wounded, including 37 cops. The demonstrators had taken care
of many other wounded, however.
The groups that called the street actions, referred to as
the Carnival Against Capitalism, were the Convergence of
Anti-Capitalist Struggles (CLAC) and the Summit of the
Americas Welcoming Committee (CASA). They were joined in the
street by the Black Bloc. All these groups identify
themselves as anarchists. When the masked fighters grappled
with the wall or pushed back the cops, the crowd cheered
them.
The labor union march--one of the biggest in Canadian
history--was called by the Canadian Labor Congress and
endorsed by the U.S. AFL-CIO.
Although many people from the United States were turned back
at the border, the International Action Center managed to
send a large delegation from several cities, including
Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Bethlehem, Pa., Baltimore
and San Francisco. Their bright orange banner and hundreds
of flags calling for freedom for Mumia Abu-Jamal were in
many of the heaviest confrontations with the police.
Workers World Party was also up front in the struggle. Party
members passed out 2,000 copies of its newspaper and carried
a banner that read "Workers of the world: Globalize our
struggle against the bosses."
Civil-liberties groups in Quebec are planning legal actions
against the police. Andre Paradis of the League of Rights
and Freedoms told Le Soleil that the police use of plastic
bullets exceeded anything seen before in a demonstration and
was on the scale of the wars in Israel and Northern Ireland.
- END -
(Copyright 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 26. huhtikuu 2001 14:21
Subject: [WW] 463 Arrested at Protest
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the May 3, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
463 ARRESTED AT PROTEST
By Gery Armsby
As Workers World went to press the Quebec Legal Collective
issued an update estimating that 30 of the 463 activists
arrested during the April 19-22 protests in Quebec City
remain in jail.
Outside the Orainville Jail in Quebec City and around the
world protests in solidarity with those jailed have
continued.
One of the imprisoned activists is Jaggi Singh, a leader and
member of the Convergence des Luttes Anti-Capitalistes/Anti-
Capitalist Convergence--a main organizing group
of the anti-FTAA protests. He was attacked and arrested by
five undercover cops during a demonstration April 20. He
faces charges of breaching a previous bail order,
participating in a riot and possession of a weapon--the
"weapon" being a theatrical catapult protesters used to
launch various symbolic items at police.
Other charges against protesters range from inciting riots
to disturbing the peace to illegal assembly. Jailed
activists like "Marina" from New York City have reported
that people from the U.S., Canada and other countries have
faced long periods of intense questioning by various
officials of unknown rank with U.S. accents. Legal observers
who visited the jails have confirmed that jail visitor logs
include names of FBI and INS officials from the U.S.
According to QLC staff member Natalie Sperry, bail hearings
for the remaining prisoners took place April 25. She told
Workers World that, "many people are at the courthouse right
now to support the people still in jail.
"The police here have been in close collusion with the U.S.
FBI in targeting revolutionary groups like CLAC, Black Blocs
and various people from the U.S.," Sperry continued, "and it
is clear that they are holding [Singh] to mess with him
because he's a well-known activist."
Singh toured the U.S. in March to help organize
participation of U.S. groups in anti-FTAA demonstrations.
- END -
(Copyright 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 26. huhtikuu 2001 14:21
Subject: [WW] Fidel Castro to Anti-FTAA Protests
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the May 3, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
MESSAGE TO FTAA PROTESTERS FROM FIDEL CASTRO
We have just watched on television the images of the brutal
manner with which the authorities of Canada are repressing
the peaceful demonstrations of those that protest against
the crime attempted to be committed against the political
and economic rights of the peoples of Latin America and the
Caribbean in Quebec.
It is a shame!
I wish to express on behalf of the people of Cuba our
sympathy and admiration for the brave and heroic behavior of
those who struggle there for such a just cause.
Governments that deceive the world by calling themselves
defenders of human rights treat their own people in such a
way. In this manner they pretend to discharge their guilt
for the millions of children, women, adults and elderly in
the world that, capable of being saved, die every year of
disease and hunger.
Yet they will not be able to sustain the unfair order they
have imposed upon humankind.
We convey our fullest solidarity. Cuba supports you,
embraces you and greets you with fraternity,
--Fidel Castro Ruz
APRIL 20, 2001 (6:00 P.M.)
- END -
