WW News Service Digest #266
1) Massive Resistance to Vieques Bombing
by [EMAIL PROTECTED]
2) Worldwide May Day Actions
by [EMAIL PROTECTED]
3) Rich Harvard, Poor Workers
by [EMAIL PROTECTED]
4) Colombian Unionist: "Stop the Death Squads"
by [EMAIL PROTECTED]
5) Philly Reneges on Camp Free Mumia Permits
by [EMAIL PROTECTED]
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the May 10, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
PUERTO RICO VS. U.S. NAVY: RESUMPTION OF VIEQUES
BOMBING MEETS MASSIVE RESISTANCE
By Berta Joubert-Ceci
In a show of imperialist power and contempt, the aircraft
carrier USS Enterprise group--with its two amphibious ships,
80 fighter planes, submarine, destroyer and 15,000 troops--
sailed into the deep coastal waters off the coast of Vieques
on April 27 for three days of military practice prior to
deployment to the Persian Gulf.
While this war group approached the Puerto Rican coast,
thousands of anti-Navy protesters--in fact, almost the whole
nation--were preparing to do their best to prevent the
military maneuvers.
This was the first military exercise since December. And it
was the third since the death of civilian guard David Sanes,
killed by a 500-pound bomb during a fighter plane drill on
April 19, 1999.
Since then it has not been business as usual for the
Pentagon in Puerto Rico. Activists have disrupted each
military exercise. Could this current one be an exception?
IMMEDIATE RESPONSE ALL OVER P.R.
On April 25, the U.S. Navy had posted a note in the Vieques
Post Office announcing that the bombing practices would be
held from morning to night on April 27-29. That same night,
protesters began incursions into the restricted areas.
On April 26, thousands of people on the big island of Puerto
Rico gathered around the San Juan Capitol building in a
massive protest against the U.S. Navy. Several colleges and
universities, including the University of Puerto Rico, the
largest in the country, closed early to allow students and
staff to attend the demonstration.
Afterwards, 500 people drove to the eastern part of the
island to leave for Vieques, boarding private boats because
the public ferry operates only during the daytime.
Since April 26, several solidarity demonstrations have taken
place in Vieques, in the south, west and north parts of the
big island of Puerto Rico, in New York, Washington, D.C.,
Philadelphia and other cities.
In the meantime, the U.S. beefed up secu rity in Vieques.
Activists saw military personnel entering the naval base in
riot gear with shields and helmets. These troops carried
night surveillance equipment.
The base's fence, reinforced with serpentine wire and cement
barriers, was constantly patrolled. Newly erected
observation towers were staffed round the clock. Both the
military and the Puerto Rican police increased their numbers
in the area. Federal marshals, K-9 patrols and helicopters
combed through the 15,000 acres of the bombing range.
But none of these measures prevented anti-Navy protesters
from entering the restricted bombing range.
ARRESTS ONLY SPUR ON PROTESTS
>From the early morning hours of April 27, activists
succeeded in fooling military patrols and entering the
range. During April 27 and 28 there were numerous attempts
to enter the range, both by land and by boat.
As of the end of April 144 people had been arrested in the
restricted area. Among them are well-known figures from the
U.S., including lawyer Robert Kennedy, Jr. actor Edward James
Olmos and New York hospital union president Dennis Rivera.
Also arrested were Puerto Rican legislators like Velda
Gonzalez and Norma Burgos, the pro-statehood Senate
president, the mayor of Vieques and dozens of political
activists from Puerto Rico.
Vieques leader Ismael Guadalupe and Puerto Rican
Independence Party leader Ruben Berrios remain in jail. They
refuse to post bail or defend themselves in a court whose
jurisdiction over Puerto Rico they do not accept. They were
all held over the weekend without a hearing.
There are still activists in the bombing zone.
They have all been able to disrupt the Navy's bombing plan.
For several hours each day the bombings had to be stopped.
On April 27, Commander of the Southern Command Kevin Green
surprisingly announced there would be no bombings on April
29.
However, the Navy also announced that the bombings might
continue after April 30 in order to compensate for the
"disruptions." According to U.S. Navy spokesperson Jeff
Gordon, the demonstrations are "bothering and irresponsible.
Not only do they risk their own safety, but also the safety
of the 15,000 Marines."
The Navy cares so much for the "safety" of the protesters
that it fired rubber bullets, pellets, tear gas and pepper
spray at those who have constantly kept up a picket line in
front of the base's main gate. During one of the afternoon
rallies, the military used tear gas against the
demonstrators while a clown entertained children. Several
people have been hurt, including a 6-month-old baby.
The people in Puerto Rico are very angry at the U.S.
military. Every sector of society has shown in one way or
another its sentiment against the military.
Several days before the bombings, Puerto Rican Gov. Sila
Calderon introduced Law 25, a noise law that would prohibit
bombings on the coasts of the island. It was passed by the
legislature. Lawyers filed a suit against the U.S. Navy,
trying to stop the military exercises. But a federal court
turned it down and the Navy threatened the governor, saying
through its spokesperson, "This is a very serious
development."
At one point the presidents of both Puerto Rican legislative
chambers tried to deliver a petition to the Navy at the
military base, but it was rejected. This made demonstrators
so angry that, right in front of the military troops, they
tore down 300 feet of the base's fence.
At no time in the history of Puerto Rico has the colonial
condition of the island been clearer. The seed for true
liberation has been planted--the realization that as a
colony, Puerto Rico has no power. People's consciousness has
risen. It is still a nationalist movement, very anti-U.S.
But this stage is well above what it was 10 years ago.
The demand "U.S. Navy out of Vieques now" can easily become
"Imperialism out of Puerto Rico!"
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the May 10, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
MAY DAY: WORKERS MARCH AROUND THE WORLD
By John Catalinotto
Worldwide May Day actions in 2001 were a mixture of
traditional working-class parades, mass union protests and
anti-capitalist confrontations with an aggressive capitalist
state apparatus that was looking for trouble. The most
dramatic worker protests were in countries hard hit by the
world economic downturn: South Korea, Taiwan and Turkey.
The new element this year was the greater presence of anti-
globalization forces who had made their mark in Seattle,
Prague, Quebec City and other places where the institutions
of world imperialism had held summits. In some places this
May Day the workers' demonstrations raised anti-
globalization slogans.
Instead of trying to list all the traditional holiday
parades, this article will concentrate on areas that typify
the day's struggles.
In Cuba, for example, President Fidel Castro led a march of
hundreds of thousands of workers in Havana past the U.S.
Interests Section, where they protested the U.S. attempt to
impose the "Free Trade Area of the Americas" on the
hemisphere.
In Sydney and Melbourne, Australia, anti-globalization
demonstrators targeted the stock exchanges, blocking streets
in the financial districts. Trade unionists participated in
the actions. The demonstrators then marched on state
parliaments.
In London, some 6,000 police prepared as if for war, even
threatening to use rubber bullets at one point before the
demonstration. The year before demonstrators had done a
moderate amount of property damage.
This time shopkeepers boarded up posh shops and police
blocked off access to statues of Winston Churchill and other
imperialist political leaders. The late prime minister was
responsible for some of the more violent and racist
suppressions of colonial revolts and interventions against
liberation movements in Africa, India and Ireland in the
period before World War II, and is a deserving target.
The Berlin police also took a repressive stance. Some 9,000
cops were out in force. They allowed a neo-Nazi rally to
proceed, but banned a demonstration by leftists and attacked
them when the left forces challenged the ban.
Despite the police presence, some 6,000 protesters built
barricades in some of the East Berlin neighborhoods and
confronted the authorities. Others carried placards reading
"Never again fascism" and "Together against the right wing"
to challenge the Nazis.
PRISONER SOLIDARITY IN TURKEY
In Istanbul, Turkey, press services report that 20,000
people marched in solidarity with hunger strikers inside and
out of Turkey's prisons. That country's massive population
of political prisoners has risked death--and over 20 have
already died from the hunger strike, as well as 30 at the
hands of the police--to fight changes in the prison system
that would isolate them from each other. People rallied in
44 other cities in the country, including the capital
Ankara, where for the first time a gay rights group
participated.
Perhaps the greatest confrontation between a workers'
demonstration and the authorities was in Seoul, South Korea.
There 20,000 workers confronting 15,000 riot police pushed
aside a police barricade to defy a ban on marching toward
the main government district. About 20 workers in
wheelchairs led the march, with a banner reading, "Down with
the Kim Dae-Jung regime" displayed behind them.
The demonstration follows heavy government repression in
March against workers at Daewoo Motors--slated for a
takeover by General Motors. Workers were sitting in to
protest layoffs GM demanded when police attacked them.
Demonstrators' headbands read: "Fight for survival rights"
and "Fight for job security."
Another kind of May Day action took place at Diamond
Mountain, a resort area in North Korea, where 1,000 workers
from both North and South Korea celebrated the possibility
of unification of their land.
In Taipei, Taiwan, some 20,000 workers marched through the
capital, demanding jobs and that the top government
officials resign.
Some 380,000 were officially unemployed in March, 160,000 of
them because of recent company closings. Some 5,000
businesses closed last year and it is expected that another
6,000 will close this year.
Marchers carried giant balloons reading "Protect labor
unions" and "Protect employment rights." They blamed the
government's policy of pushing for independence, a policy
that has increased tensions with the People's Republic of
China.
In South Africa too, the focus was on jobs. The Congress of
South African Trade Unions organized the 2001 celebrations
in its various regions countrywide. The theme of this year's
May Day was "Stop the job loss bloodbath! Create quality
jobs; fight poverty!"
In Russia the larger outpourings took place in the Asian
parts of the country, with tens of thousands of people
marching in Siberian cities and towns. Associated Press
reported over 700,000 people marched across Russia, but
fewer than 50,000 in Moscow.
Many carried banners favorable to the late Soviet leader
Josef Stalin, who they identify with the period when the
Soviet Union was able to rapidly industrialize using
socialist methods and also, with great sacrifices, to defeat
the Nazi war machine in World War II.
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the May 10, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
RICH HARVARD, POOR WORKERS: STUDENTS OCCUPY HALL
TO DEMAND LIVING WAGE
Solidarity Shakes $19 B Ivy League School
By Rachel Nasca
Cambridge, Mass.
[Occupied Harvard Yard, Day 11]
Harvard students are making history in a courageous struggle
to win economic justice for the lowest paid and most
oppressed workers at the university. Taking a page from the
most militant history of the labor movement, the 1930s "sit-
downs," they have captured the attention of the university,
the city and the country.
The struggle began on April 18 when 47 students seized
Massachusetts Hall. It housed the offices of Harvard
President Neil Rudenstine, who has since moved to another
building across Harvard Yard.
The students took this action, they said in a statement,
because "poverty-level wages and benefits have emerged as a
pressing problem at our university."
Students and workers had begun a Living Wage Campaign in
1998 demanding that all hourly wages be raised to at least
$10.25 plus benefits "to insure that all Harvard employees
can afford to decently live and raise their families."
POVERTY AT HARVARD
While Harvard projects the image of lofty academic purity
and morality, the reality is that it represents the richest
capitalist academic corporation in the world. It is a hated
slumlord in Cambridge and now has acquired properties across
the river in Boston. It is a bourgeois think tank whose
influence covers the globe, and is a notorious union buster.
Harvard pays its most oppressed workers as little as $6.50
per hour with no benefits. These workers-between 1,000 and
2,000 custodians, dining hall and so-called "casual" workers-
may put in 90-hour workweeks. Some work as many as three
jobs, rarely see their families and fear facing a medical
emergency. Some Harvard workers are forced to eat in soup
kitchens and sleep in shelters.
At the same time the university--with an endowment of more
than $19 billion--pays one fund manager $1 million a year.
Over the last three years, students and workers have forged
a united front to demand that the university bring these
workers up to a "living wage" of $10.25 per hour. This
Progressive Student/Labor Movement has organized picket
lines and rallies, done extensive media work, collected
petitions, spoken at conferences and before the Cambridge
City Council--which has passed a Living Wage resolution for
the city--and organized more than 300 alumni/ae to refuse to
contribute money to the university.
Earlier this year, the students organized a one-day
occupation of administration offices during a Pre-Frosh
weekend. Meanwhile, Harvard has outsourced hundreds of jobs
to firms that pay poverty-level wages and has even slashed
wages of other direct-hired workers.
STUDENTS AND SUPPORTERS OCCUPY HARVARD YARD
In a two-front maneuver, more students and supporters joined
the student occupation and organized a "tent city" style
encampment. It has grown to over 150 students and supporters
living and sleeping in tents set up in the Yard. A veteran
"tent city" engineer from the community aided the students,
establishing an organized, numbered layout. One section of
this squatters' neighborhood has a number of brand-new tents
donated by another supporter. More tents go up each day.
The students are extremely well organized. Round the clock,
they staff the tables, produce the literature, operate an up-
to-the-minute Web page, and organize and lead rallies and
marches several times each day.
The bold action of the students has sparked a solidarity
movement not seen in decades in this city. Janitors,
clerical and technical workers, students and their parents,
faculty members, alumni/ae, and all the campus unions have
thrown in their support. Graduate students have spoken at
rallies and are beginning to organize themselves.
Support from outside the campus has included community
leaders, anti-globalization activists, religious groups,
local and national politicians, the Rev. Jesse Jackson,
NAACP, Julian Bond, actors, and writers such as trans author
Leslie Feinberg and historian Howard Zinn.
Many area unionists have joined the campaign. The
Massachusetts AFL-CIO has passed a resolution supporting the
students, has donated money and has sent representatives to
the rallies.
The national labor movement has now weighed in. On April 30
a labor rally of over 2,000 in front of Massachusetts Hall
featured AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, Secretary-Treasurer
Richard Trumka and Executive Vice President Linda Chavez-
Thompson. After rousing speeches and chants, the crowd
marched around Harvard Hall, where the president and provost
now have their offices.
KITCHEN WORKERS DEMONSTRATE SOLIDARITY
Rank-and-file members of Hotel and Restaurant Employees
Local 26, which represents about 600 dining hall workers,
faced off with university police to get food and supplies to
the sit-downers. "Our job," said chief shop steward Ed
Childs, "is to feed the students and we are here to feed the
students." He and other union leaders said their members
would continue to bring in food.
Local 26 had ended its April 25 union meeting with a march
to the sit-in. Roona Ray, a third-year biology student and
leader of PSLM, said she heard a "roar from around the
corner" as 250 dining hall workers converged on
Massachusetts Hall. She said it was the "most amazing
experience" of her life. What was to have been a vigil in
the Yard turned into a militant demonstration and then a
takeover of the streets outside as the students and workers
marched and chanted support for the sit-in.
On April 27 President Rudenstine called a meeting of the
faculty in an effort to press them into aiding him in his
quest to end the sit-in. He assumed that he would have their
support. He assumed wrong. The faculty refused according to
student reports.
Scores of faculty support the Living Wage Campaign. Many
professors have not only joined the rallies and expressed
their support but have held classes for the students
occupying the building.
DETERMINATION IS ROCK SOLID
The Boston Globe of April 29 reported that the university
had "threatened academic penalties and the possibility of
police action to end the standoff with the 40 students." It
was also reported that President Rudenstine, in classic
"carrot and stick" form, was offering to meet students and
open a discussion on the living wage issue if they would end
their sit-in. Only days earlier he had stated it was a
closed issue.
But the students have remained firm and refuse to end the
sit-in.
Pacho Veldez, a junior in visual and environmental studies,
told this reporter through a window of the occupied building
that the students would not be intimidated. "We have the
right to dissent. There has been no talk about leaving." He
made it clear that the students don't want false promises or
gestures, but justice for Harvard workers.
Marion Valdez, Pacho's mother, had arrived that morning,
driving from New York with parents of another student. She
had brought food for her son and the others sitting in. She
said she was here "to show support for them. I'm very proud
of him. It's not about him and the other students; it's
about support for others, for the workers."
She added that Pacho's grandparents had met at a picket line
organized to get a union into a small carpet factory in New
York.
This sit-in has broad political significance for the growing
youth movement. The students are waging a frontal attack on
the "General Motors" of capitalist academic bosses in the
interests of the most oppressed section of the working
class. For more information or to give support, visit
www.livingwagenow.com.
Rachel Nasca, a member of AFSCME Local 3650, has been a
Harvard clerical worker for more than 23 years.
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the May 10, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
INTERVIEW WITH COLOMBIAN TRADE UNIONIST: "STOP THE
DEATH SQUADS!"
By Rebeca Toledo
New York
His smile is warm for someone who brings such a somber
message to workers in the United States. Jose Fernando
Ramirez, a member of the oil workers' union in Colombia, has
been on a tour of this country so that people will know what
their tax dollars are doing to the workers and peasants of
Colombia. Ramirez is also a member of the National
Commission for Human Rights and Peace.
Before presenting a brief history of his union to this
reporter, he sent greetings to the workers of the U.S.
With a war raging in Colombia that is more and more being
funded and organized from Washington, Ramirez wants workers
here to know what a long struggle his sisters and brothers
have had against the huge U.S. oil monopolies.
FIGHTING THE 'SEVEN SISTERS' FOR ALMOST A CENTURY
His union was formed back in the early 1900s to fight
against the "seven sisters"--the world's biggest oil
companies, nearly all based in New Jersey. The union's goal
was to nationalize Colombia's oil, which was being exploited
by the imperialists.
In 1948, a union strike eventually gave birth to Copetrol,
the Colombian national oil company. "This strike was marked
by heavy repression from the state, including harassment,
disappearances and deaths. The Colombian military would
assassinate unionists and throw them into the Magdalena
River," recounted Ramirez.
Nevertheless, the union prevailed and in 1951 Copetrol was
formed. In 1963, a national strike of the oil workers shut
down the entire oil industry. "Shell, Texaco and others saw
production come to a standstill," said Ramirez. In 1977, the
union launched a 68-day strike against the selling of some
Copetrol plants to Dow Chemical. Again the unionists faced
fierce state repression. Some 217 workers were fired and
blacklisted. But again the union prevailed.
"Today," Ramirez continued, "it is not safe to be a trade
unionist. In a seven-day period in April, for example, 14
trade unionists were killed by paramilitary terrorists, who
are armed, trained and aided by the Colombian military. In
this year alone, 130 trade unionists have been murdered by
these forces, who are part and parcel of the Colombian
military." His union has to operate very cautiously,
avoiding certain areas where the paramilitaries and the
Colombian military operate.
Ramirez explained that the multinational corporations want
to privatize and take over Colombia's wealth. And where they
can't privatize they will destroy. He used the example of
agricultural production. "Colombia, which was once self-
sufficient, now imports 700 tons of food a day. It imports
coffee, rice, plantains, corn and yucca," he stated.
"What is really behind U.S. intervention in Colombia is an
attempt by the multinationals to take over industry,"
Ramirez said. Of the $7.5 billion earmarked for Plan
Colombia, $4.4 billion has to be raised by the Colombian
government. The only way it can do this is by selling off
Colombia's national industries and natural resources.
"That is why," Ramirez said, "the workers, peasants and
revolutionary movement are against Plan Colombia. It is a
plan of war against the people." This war against the people
has been going on for a long time now. And the U.S. wants to
escalate it, he stated.
"It began in 1948 with the assassination of the popular
presidential candidate, Jorge Eliecer Gait�n," explained
Ramirez. "The two bourgeois political parties then carried
out a war that led to the deaths of over 300,000 workers and
peasants. The landowners used this opportunity to throw the
peasants off the land, with the help of the paramilitary
forces of the time."
RESISTANCE TURNED INTO ARMED STRUGGLE
The peasants retreated to the mountains, Ramirez continued.
In 1964, 80 families set up collective farms and became an
example for the entire country. The Colombian military
responded by sending 16,000 troops and dropping napalm,
compliments of the U.S., on the peasants.
Led by Manuel Marulanda Velez, Jacobo Prias Alape and
others, the peasants resisted, armed themselves and formed
what became the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-
People's Army (FARC-EP).
"What was needed then and is still needed today in
Colombia," Ramirez said, "is peace with social justice. A
political solution must be found to the armed conflict."
Ordered to do so by the International Monetary Fund, the
Colombian government has laid off more than 1,500 state
workers. Unemployment is officially at 20 percent.
Colombia doesn't need helicopters, arms and bombs from the
U.S. What Ramirez wants the people of the U.S. to understand
is that although the Colombian military is well-trained in
the art of torture, disappearance, assassination and other
things learned at the School of the Americas, it cannot be
taught to win. The just struggle of the people will win out.
"But we need the help of the people in the U.S.," said
Ramirez.
"Demand that the U.S. stop its intervention in Colombia.
Demand that all military aid to Colombia is stopped. Demand
that all political intervention be stopped," stated Ramirez.
"Demand self-determination for the people of Colombia." He
invited all progressive forces to visit Colombia to support
the struggle against neoliberalism and globalization.
'STOP THE DEATH SQUADS AND FUMIGATION'
"Pressure the Colombian government to stop the paramilitary
death squads," he continued. "Demand that the fumigation of
Colombian lands be stopped. This fumigation has led to
sickness in the peasants-skin diseases, degenerative
diseases. It has also led to the destruction of all crops
and the environment.
"The phony 'war on drugs' has not worked," he stated. "More
coca is being grown today than ever before." He explained
that the popular movement supports manual eradication of the
coca plants. But it "has to be gradual, concerted and must
include plant substitution, social and economic programs.
"A debt moratorium must be instituted," Ramirez added.
"Sixty-five percent of the Colombian GNP goes to paying off
the interest on international bank loans. The Colombian
government spends twice as much on the military as it does
on healthcare, education and social programs.
"There has to be a redistribution of wealth in Colombia so
that we can build a New Colombia, where the rich won't get
richer and the poor poorer," said Ramirez. "We need
agrarian reform with credits, technology and land for the
peasants."
Ramirez states, "If globalization, as put forth by the
multinationals, meant freedom for all countries to develop
and share in the wealth produced, than we would be for it.
But since its goal is to make the rich richer and the poor
poorer, we declare it the number one enemy of humanity.
"The people of the U.S. are our friends- we need to struggle
together. Let's build a world front against poverty and
exploitation. Let's build a new world together."
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the May 10, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
ORGANIZERS VOW TO FIGHT: PHILLY GOV'T RENEGES ON
CAMP FREE MUMIA PERMITS
By Monica Moorehead
The Philadelphia city government and the Fraternal Order of
Police have declared a political and legal war against an
important activity aimed at continuing the struggle to free
Mumia Abu-Jamal.
Supporters of the African American political prisoner and
award-winning journalist had applied to the city for permits
to set up a 48-hour vigil/encampment May 11-13 on behalf of
his struggle. The encampment will include a May 12 march and
rally.
The encampment was initiated by the International Action
Center in the spirit of the May 12 international day of
solidarity with Mumia Abu-Jamal by anti-racist, anti-death
penalty forces worldwide. May 13 also marks the 16th
anniversary of the heinous bombing of the MOVE organization--
a majority Black communal group--by the Philadelphia
authorities that slaughtered 11 women, children and men.
On April 26, representatives of the International Action
Center and the International Concerned Family and Friends of
Mumia Abu-Jamal were informed during a face-to-face meeting
with the Office of City Management and other city agencies
that the permits were turned down.
"Health and safety issues" were cited as reasons for the
denial. When IAC representatives asked for a written
explanation of the city's decision, they were met with a
resounding "No!"
The IAC had submitted permit applications in March. The
group was informed by the same agencies in early April that
a 24-hour encampment could take place. Encampment organizers
planned to challenge the city on its arbitrary decision to
agree to 24 hours instead of 48 hours.
Following the Cincinnati rebellion and the Quebec City
protests, city officials had a sudden change of mind. They
told organizers that they only had the "option" of holding
the protests from 6:30 p.m. until 9 p.m. on May 11 and from
6 a.m. until 6 p.m. on May 12 and 13.
The IAC and ICFFMAJ informed the city officials that this
"option" was totally unacceptable as well as discriminatory.
As a result, a legal suit will be filed in federal court
against the city. To help build mass support for this suit,
people are being asked to fax letters to Mayor John Street's
office--(215) 686-2180--to demand the right to protest
overnight in front of City Hall on May 11 and May 12. Copies
of these letters should be sent to local media and to the
IAC at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Larry Holmes, co-director of the IAC and a coordinator of
the encampment, said that "The outrageous denial of our
permits is a clear violation of our rights as Mumia
supporters to free speech.
"The city says it is concerned about the health and safety
of people staying in front of City Hall for two nights with
tents and sleeping bags. This is just a cover. They realize
that organizing a sustained activity like a 48-hour vigil,
especially involving young anti-racists, will put a national
and international spotlight on the travesty of justice that
put Mumia--along with thousands of others--on death row."
'WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED!'
The city claims it has a policy of not allowing individuals
or groups to camp out on public property. But the facts
speak otherwise.
Tents are set up for days during the annual Core State--now
First Union--bicycle races on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.
Members of the firefighters' union camped outside the
mayor's office recently to bring attention to the issue of
health care for disabled members.
University of Pennsylvania student activists are in the
midst of holding a tent city in west Philadelphia to protest
sweatshop labor and Nike's refusal to allow unions at its
factories in Mexico.
Betsey Piette, a Philadelphia IAC organizer for the
encampment, told Workers World, "During the Republican
National Convention in August 2000, the city allowed the
Republican National Committee to set up large tents where
food was served outside of City Hall for several days.
"Now they're trying to tell supporters of Mumia, MOVE and
activists trying to stop racism, police brutality, the death
penalty and the prison-industrial complex that we don't have
the same rights. We see this as a form of political
profiling. But we won't be silent, and we won't let them try
to silence Mumia."
Organizing for the encampment continues to gather support
despite the city's efforts to shut it down. Thousands of
leaflets and posters are visible in many areas throughout
Philadelphia. Word of the event is saturating the Internet.
Speakers are spreading the word across the country, urging
people to descend on a city that has one of the highest
rates of police brutality in the country.
Leslie Feinberg, a co-founder of Rainbow Flags for Mumia and
an award-winning transgender author, observed that, "At
campuses and rallies all across the country this spring,
audiences broke into ovations the moment I mentioned Mumia's
name because of who he is and what he stands for.
"Camp Free Mumia is really capturing the hearts and minds of
those who would do anything in their power to free him,"
Feinberg emphasized. "Students and community activists I've
spoken with in Tennessee, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Ohio,
New Jersey, Maryland, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania--
even as far away as Colorado--don't just want to take part,
they want to be organizers to bring others to the
encampment.
"They know that this will be a microcosm of a people's
occupation that might just refuse to leave next time,"
Feinberg said. "The youth-led movement that has emerged --
from Seattle to Quebec--has made people shed a lot of their
fear of the police. And it's given them confidence that we
can make Philadelphia and other cities ungovernable if the
state tries to take Mumia from us."
A hip-hop concert is scheduled to be the opening shot for
the encampment. It begins at 6 p.m. at City Hall. Performers
include Saigon Slim, Grand Agent, Moya, War Club, Luminous
Flux, Ricanstruction, Seeds of Wisdom and many more.
Leslie Jones, an organizer of the May 11 hip-hop concert,
told Workers World, "We as young people, as artists, as
mothers, as a family in the struggle against repression,
oppression, excess, and misinformation, will not be deterred
by the bias and illegal actions of the City of Philadelphia
to stop our encampment.
"We were not silenced in Seattle," she stressed, "we were
not silenced at national conventions, we were not silenced
at the inauguration, and we were not silenced in Quebec
City. We will be at Philadelphia's City Hall on May 11,
voicing our resistance to this unjust system. Just as Mumia
has refused to back down--even from the hell of death row--
we too will not back down from fighting for his life,
fighting for all life, and fighting for what is right. Join
us!"
A program in tribute to the MOVE victims will be the closing
event for the encampment.
To get more information about encampment organizing call
(215) 476-5416 or 724-1618 in Philadelphia. In New York call
(212) 633-6646. To download May 11-13 leaflets, posters and
stickers in English and Spanish, go to www.mumia2000.org.
