5) Labor Gets Behind Carolina Dockworkers
by [EMAIL PROTECTED]
6) 100,000 March for Gay RIghts
by [EMAIL PROTECTED]
7) Mumia: New Developments in Legal Case
by [EMAIL PROTECTED]
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the June 21, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
SUPPORT FOR THE CHARLESTON 5: LABOR GETS BEHIND
CAROLINA DOCKWORKERS
By Dianne Mathiowetz
Member, UAW Local #10
Columbia, S.C.
Dozens of buses from Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina,
Michigan, New York, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Maryland
rolled into Columbia, the capital of South Carolina, on June
9. They brought supporters of the Charleston 5 for an
impressive showing of union solidarity.
Others came by air and car from as far as port cities on the
West Coast, Florida and Louisiana, as well as Europe, Puerto
Rico and Korea.
Over 4,000 chanting, singing, placard-waving labor unionists
and community members marched and rallied to demand that
bogus, politically motivated "riot" charges against the five
Charleston longshore workers be dropped.
Charges of union busting and racism were directed
particularly at South Carolina Attorney General Charlie
Condon, who has declared his intent to run for governor.
Condon has promised "jail and more jail" for the Charleston
5. In response, dock workers at every unionized port around
the world have pledged that nothing will be loaded or
unloaded on the opening day of their trial.
In the winter of 1999/2000, Charleston longshore workers had
been picketing ships from the Nordana shipping company for
weeks without incident. The issue was the company's
replacement of union dock workers with scabs.
Then, just two days after almost 50,000 people marched on
Columbia on Jan. 17--Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s holiday--
calling for the removal of the Confederate battle flag from
atop the State Capitol building, South Carolina authorities
ordered some 600 police equipped with armored vehicles,
horses, helicopters and patrol boats to the docks in
Charleston.
Cops in riot gear attacked 130 workers with concussion
grenades, tear gas, rubber bullets and clubs. Eight
longshore workers were arrested that night. They were
charged with trespass.
A local judge threw the charges out for lack of evidence
when the cases came to court. Then in stepped Attorney
General Condon.
He convened a grand jury and indicted five workers on felony
riot charges.
For more than a year, although they have yet to go to court,
the five have been made prisoners in their own homes. From 7
p.m. to 7 a.m., they must stay in their houses unless at
work or attending a union meeting. They have to get court
permission to travel outside the state.
Family members of each of the five spoke at the rally. They
explained how this punitive detention has meant missing
their children's athletic and school-related events, family
gatherings and church services.
Elijah Ford Jr.'s 13-year-old daughter told the crowd how
her father could not take her to the Father-Daughter Ball
this year and didn't get to see her be a school cheerleader.
The audience chanted, "Free the Charleston 5" and "Drop the
charges now."
For more than two hours, speaker after speaker brought the
crowd to its feet. Co-chaired by South Carolina AFL-CIO
President Donna DeWitt and State Rep. Joe Neal, chair of the
Legislative Black Caucus, the program included many union
officials. AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Linda Chavez-
Thompson spoke. So did the national presidents of both the
International Longshore Association and the International
Longshore and Warehouse Union. Mine Workers President Cecil
Roberts and Coalition of Black Trade Unionists President
Bill Lucy also spoke.
Ken Riley, president of ILA Local 1422, one of those
attacked, thanked the many unionists present for their
solidarity.
The crowd showed special appreciation for Kwang-Jun Yu,
representing South Korean auto workers at Daewoo Motors.
Declaring his opposition to racism, police violence and
union busting, Yu explained how the International Monetary
Fund and big corporations such as General Motors keep
workers' wages low on a global scale by attempting to divide
and intimidate working people.
In recent months, Daewoo workers have been beaten,
hospitalized and arrested in the hundreds for staging
protests against layoffs forced by the pending takeover of
the company by General Motors.
The militancy and political consciousness of Daewoo's
unionized workers presents GM with a major obstacle in its
plans to drastically downsize the Korean car company. "While
Korean workers have one hand raised to stop the blows of
GM," said Yu, "their other hand is extended in solidarity
with the Charleston 5 and all those fighting for workers'
rights." The many auto workers at the rally cheered his
every statement.
Larry Holmes of the International Action Center had told the
crowd at the warm-up rally before the march, "The government
of South Carolina thinks it's going to scare workers by
framing the Charleston 5. They are wrong. Today's
demonstration is proof that repression only rallies the
might of the working class and helps foster solidarity and
unionization."
Nikky Finney, the daughter of a prominent retired South
Carolina judge, mesmerized the rally participants with her
indictment of South Carolina's political establishment for
its racism and reactionary policies. She lauded the
Charleston 5 for "standing up" in the face of the backward
and narrow-minded attitudes and expectations of 150 years
ago.
She declared to resounding applause that these five
longshore workers had not been part of a riot but had done
what was right, and called them heroes of the people.
There at the State Capitol, with the Confederate flag flying
literally in the midst of the rally site, Nelson Rivers,
executive director of the NAACP, said the flag represents
"what WAS in South Carolina" while the Charleston 5
represent "what IS."
The NAACP led the fight to get the symbol of the Confederacy
removed from atop the State Capitol, he said, and is not
satisfied with a legislative compromise that placed the
battle flag on the Capitol grounds.
Rivers said that the struggle will go on until it "is in a
museum where all dead things belong." It was noted through
out the day that the longshore workers had actively
campaigned for the removal of the Confederate flag, an issue
that put them directly at odds with Charlie Condon, a
staunch defender of flying the flag of slavery.
Rep. David Mack zeroed in on Condon's loathsome record of
persecuting and prosecuting poor, pregnant women. Members of
the International Action Center in New York distributed
flyers and solicited signatures on a form letter denouncing
the conviction and sentencing of Regina McKnight for
"homicide by child abuse."
After McKnight's baby was stillborn, she was recently
sentenced to 12 years in prison under a South Carolina law
designed by Charlie Condon to protect "fetal rights."
Deliberating for just 15 minutes, a jury found that it was
her alleged substance abuse that caused the death of her
baby, not that she had been victimized by domestic abuse and
homelessness and was developmentally disabled.
The Supreme Court recently overruled another of Condon's
anti-woman laws. South Carolina had ordered that drug tests
be performed on blood samples of women who came into
hospitals for prenatal care without their knowledge or
consent. Pregnant women and women who had just delivered
babies were then arrested and taken to jail in shackles.
With Condon in office, millions of dollars of taxpayer money
have been spent on prosecuting and defending reactionary and
racist policies.
Meanwhile South Carolina consistently ranks among the worst
states for health care and education, infant mortality and
poverty. With less than 4 percent of its work force
represented by unions, the wages and benefits earned by
South Carolina workers are among the lowest in the country.
The struggle of the mostly African American members of the
Charleston longshore workers' union, whose contract provides
them with a decent standard of living and whose political
activism makes them a force in local and state politics,
exemplifies the way South Carolinians can advance. It is
this truth that has brought the wrath of Condon and his big
business allies down on the Charleston 5.
That message of working-class organization has now been
brought to the whole world by the Charleston dock workers
and their millions of supporters.
Letters demanding that the charges be dropped should be sent
to: Gov. Jim Hodges at PO Box 11892, Columbia, SC 29211 or e-
mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
For further information, go to www.iacenter.org/labor.htm.
- 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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From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: torstai 14. kes�kuu 2001 11:29
Subject: [WW] 100,000 March for Gay RIghts
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the June 21, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
100,000 MARCH FOR GAY RIGHTS
Over 100,000 people marched in Boston's annual Lesbian Gay,
Bi, Trans Pride Parade on June 9.
A spirited contingent from Rainbow Flags for Mumia, which
marched with the Lesbian Avengers, carried two banners and
many placards in support of death-row political prisoner
Mumia Abu-Jamal. They got a terrific response from the
thousands along the line of march.
Hundreds of Workers World newspapers were distributed. So
were thousands of fliers s supporting the Sept. 29
demonstration that will surround the White House to overturn
the Bush program. The flier included a statement from Mumia
Abu-Jamal condemning violence against lesbians, gays,
bisexuals and trans people.
The flier also called for action against Sky Publishing Co.
in Cambridge, Mass., which fired a trans worker. Instead of
responding to a discrimination claim that followed, the
company is suing the city of Cambridge to overturn its anti-
discrimination law protecting trans workers.
--Frank Neisser WW PHOTO: MAUREEN SKEHAN
- 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 14. kes�kuu 2001 11:29
Subject: [WW] Mumia: New Developments in Legal Case
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the June 21, 2001
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
ONCE AGAIN, MUMIA IS BEING DENIED HIS COUNSEL OF
CHOICE AS NEW EVIDENCE EMERGES: NEW
DEVELOPMENTS IN LEGAL CASE
By Monica Moorehead
There have been important new legal developments in the
ongoing struggle to gain the freedom of award-winning
journalist and political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal, who has
been on Pennsylvania's death row since 1982.
Abu-Jamal faces a legal lynching for the Dec. 9, 1981,
murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner--a
murder that evidence suppressed by the authorities shows Abu-
Jamal did not commit.
On June 7, Abu-Jamal's new defense attorneys, Marlene Kamish
and Eliot Grossman, notified the public and the media that
the Philadelphia district attorney's office is once again
violating their client's constitutional right to be
represented by the legal counsel of his choice.
In this particular incident, the legal counsel in question
is Nick Brown, a well-respected lawyer and barrister based
in London. Brown has been involved in hundreds of criminal
and civil cases. The Philadelphia district attorney's office
is challenging Brown's qualifications to serve in the
federal district court.
Kamish said: "It is indisputable that Nick Brown is
qualified to be a member of Mumia's defense team and to
appear before the court. In fact, it seems that the real
issue for the district attorney's office is that he is too
qualified."
AUTHORED FRIEND OF COURT BRIEF
Brown was the main author of an amicus or "friend-of-the-
court" brief filed on Abu-Jamal's behalf last year. That
brief was signed by 22 members of the British Parliament.
The United States Eastern District Court in Pennsylvania
dismissed it with hardly an explanation.
This denial was reminiscent of what occurred during Abu-
Jamal's original trial in 1982. Then the same district
attorney's office conspired with "hanging judge" Albert Sabo
to deny Abu-Jamal the right to have John Africa, leader of
the MOVE organization, sit with and legally advise him.
When Abu-Jamal tried to dismiss his state-appointed
attorney, Anthony Jackson, and legally represent himself, he
was physically removed from the court proceedings. This was
another blatant violation of Abu-Jamal's constitutional
rights.
During this sham of a trial, the district attorney's office
carried out a political attack on Abu-Jamal. It focused on
the African American revolutionary's role as a founding
member of the Philadelphia chapter of the Black Panther
Party in the late 1960s.
The district attorney took this tack because there was no
real evidence linking Abu-Jamal to the killing. That Abu-
Jamal was sent to death row because of his political beliefs
is one of 29 constitutional violations perpetrated against
Abu-Jamal during the 1982 trial.
These violations were listed in the original federal habeas
corpus petition now before the Eastern District Court.
NO WORD ON NEW HEARING
Since the fall of 1999 Abu-Jamal has been awaiting word from
this court on whether he will be granted a hearing. His
right to an evidentiary hearing, which would allow evidence
suppressed during the original trial to finally be heard, is
at stake.
In response to this latest legal maneuver against Abu-Jamal,
Grossman said: "Opposition to motions for admission of
attorneys from outside a court's jurisdiction are almost
unheard of. If the DA's office is so sure of its case
against Mumia, why is it so concerned about who represents
him in a habeas corpus proceeding?"
In another important legal development, on May 29 in the
federal district court Abu-Jamal's lawyers filed two legal
briefs against Martin Horn, commissioner of the Pennsylvania
Department of Corrections, and Connor Blaine, superintendent
of the State Correction Institution at Greene, where Abu-
Jamal is imprisoned.
One brief requests that the federal court accept two
affidavits signed by polygraph expert Dr. Charles Honts on
May 16 and May 18. These affidavits corroborate the results
of polygraph tests administered to Arnold Beverly, who
confessed to killing Faulkner as part of a mob hit.
Beverly also stated during these tests that Abu-Jamal was
innocent of the shooting.
The petition goes on to say that these tests should have
been presented by Abu-Jamal's prior legal counsel during the
state post-conviction proceedings in 1995 and 1996. On May
4, the day Abu-Jamal's new legal counsel was announced,
Beverly's affidavit was made public along with Abu-Jamal's
affidavit stating that he was innocent.
BRIEF ASKS STATE TO QUESTION CONFESSED KILLER
The second brief argues for a recommendation that a
deposition be taken of Beverly's testimony in order to
"preserve the evidence and protect the witness." The
petition states that "it is disingenuous for the District
Attorney to suggest that there is no emergency which
requires the prompt taking of Arnold Beverly's deposition."
The petition goes on to say that "if the District Attorney's
Office believed its own representations to the District
Court and the media that Mr. Beverly's confession is a
'patently outrageous story' and a 'lie,' they would welcome
rather than oppose being given the opportunity to cross-
examine the witness under oath."
None of these significant legal developments has received
national media attention. This confirms the view that the
big-business media want to keep Abu-Jamal's case out of the
headlines because it is in the ruling class's interests to
portray Mumia as a "cop killer."
In fact, Abu-Jamal is a powerful and effective spokesperson
and activist against all forms of racist and class
oppression endemic to the capitalist system, here and
abroad. The media owners understand all too well how
vulnerable the United States is on the issue of racism.
What happens to him in the courts is important, but it would
be folly to rely on an unjust legal system to win his
freedom. This is very well understood by Abu-Jamal and his
lawyers.
Therefore, the progressive movement must continue to meet
the challenge of reaching out to the masses to build
necessary support.
A key point is that the case of Abu-Jamal is not about the
persecution of one individual. His case is political in
nature. It symbolizes the life-and-death struggle against
every form of racist oppression, especially those involving
police brutality and the death penalty.
- 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)
